Student Profiles

Ryan Hartman, BA Peace Studies '09

Originally interested in a writing degree, New Jersey native Ryan Hartman took Introduction to Peace Studies on a whim and found himself challenged in a way unlike anything that had come before. "I went home after the first class almost in tears," he says, "thinking that there would be no way I could keep up. I thought Naropa was an easy school where teachers and students sat around and discovered things about themselves, but this Peace Studies class blew my mind. It was the most intellectual conversation I had ever been involved in.

"At first, I didn’t like it but told myself I would have to get through the semester. Then I had my first meeting with Sudarshan. I told him how I was feeling, that I got thrown out of high school, went to a community college, and hadn’t really learned anything since 8th grade. I told him that my parents weren’t intellectuals, none of my friends back home were intellectuals, and I felt like I was drowning. I ended up leaving the meeting with the realization that I had a lot of good insights to share, that what I had to say was just as important and meaningful as the rest of the class and there was no reason to think that I should have to remain quiet and feel like I can’t compete. Almost instantly, things started turning around.

"By the fifth week, all I could think about was the Peace Studies class and, by spring semester, I was the most involved I had ever been in things like peace building, organizing and trying to make change in my community.                                                                                                    

"Taking the history and theories that we read about, discussing them in class, and then using them in the real world has proved more meaningful for me than anything else I have ever learned at any other learning institution. It has also helped me see that there are ways to make a career out of peace building and conflict resolution. I can not only change the world with what I am learning, but I can also change my personal relationships. In almost every rough situation I am faced with, I find myself trying to incorporate something I learned in a Peace Studies class or book. Most of the time it works."