The Effects of Formative Mentors
"I was told by the nuns at graduation that I wasn't college material and I believed them. So, I never applied to college. I didn't know how..."
Landsmark expresses appreciation for the guidance and advice she received from three mentors: the Dean of York College, Dr. Swadesh Grant, and Dartmouth alum Nelson Armstrong. Landsmark grew up in a low-income family in Bedford–Stuyvesant, New York, and attended St. Peter Claver Elementary School and Bishop McDonnell High School. The nuns at Bishop McDonnell told Landsmark that she “wasn’t college material."
After graduating from Bishop McDonnell Memorial High School in 1969, Landsmark worked as a switchboard operator. One Friday afternoon, Landsmark was sitting on a bench near the Hudson River engrossed in a book. A gentleman, who later identified himself as the Dean of York College, “sat down and commented on the book.” Doubting that Landsmark “wasn’t college material,” the Dean encouraged her to apply to York College in Queens, New York. Landsmark submitted an application to York College and was admitted later that year.
“I loved [York College], I loved every class. I discovered some classes that were special to me. Literature was special, biology was special, and psychology was special.”
Landsmark’s first psychology professor, Dr. Swadesh Grant, became a formative mentor for Landsmark. According to Landsmark, Dr. Swadesh Grant and her husband, a Dartmouth alum, “knew that Dartmouth was turning co-ed, and needed to fill out the female population.” Dr. Grant and her husband submitted an application to Dartmouth College on behalf of Landsmark.
“[Dr. Grant and her husband] filled out the application for me. I didn't know. They had all the information. And later that fall, they told me that I've been accepted with a full scholarship to Dartmouth.”
To contextualize Landsmark’s experience at York College in the 1970s, I have attached four editions of Pandora’s Box, the official student newspaper of York College:
At Dartmouth, Nelson 'Nels' Armstrong ‘71 served as a mentor to Landsmark. After graduating from Dartmouth in 1971, Armstrong worked as an advisor to the Afro-American Society and a counselor in the Office of Student Counseling. In an oral history interview, Armstrong stated, “People helped me through it, so I thought if I could help others through it, all the better.” Landsmark describes Armstrong as a “wonderful guiding light” who shared “wisdom in a soft tap way.” According to Landsmark, Armstrong “saved so many of the guys and girls in terms of advising them.”