The Colby Echo

Issue date: 3/2/07 Section: News & Features

Media Credit: Dan Nolan Rocio Orrantes '07

When Rocio Orantes '07, a philosophy major from Guatemala, studied abroad in Sri Lanka during her junior year, she never thought that the experience would significantly change her life-she was quite mistaken. "I was very confused about my classes and my life, and I thought that maybe with meditation, it would be better. So I went meditating," she said. "I instantly fell in love with it. I fell in love with the sitting, I fell in love with the pain, I fell in love with the teachers."

Since then, Orantes's love for meditation has led her to drive 8 hours a week to practice meditation in Orono. Although a large time commitment that has forced her to drop some of the clubs in which she previously participated, she loves it. "I don't have to be anyone else to meditate. I can bring all of my problems and sit and work it all out."

Orantes's meditation has gained her a spot as one of four Colby finalists for the Watson scholarship, a scholarship which grants 50 college seniors nationwide $25,000 each to pursue a project of their choice out of the country. "My project is to trace the evolution of [vipassona, a type of meditation] and see how communities have evolved out of vipassona," she said. "Part of it will be developing my own practice. I will find communities and sit with them. But a bigger part will be studying meditation-talking to people, finding out why they sit. In fact, that's the name of my project-'Why Sit?'" If she wins the scholarship, Orantes's project will take her through Thailand, India, New Zealand and Mexico.

Aside from meditation, Orantes is a Writer's Center Tutor, both in Colby and in the community, the secretary for the Pugh Community Board, and is training for a marathon. The marathon, which will be held in Canada this fall, is a first for Orantes. "People always ask me if I run because of 'the zone,'" she said. "The zone is that state of running when you leave your regular state of mind-very much like meditation. Have I been in the zone? Yes, but I'm not ready to talk about it yet because I'm still trying to figure out what it all meant."

Whether running, doing schoolwork, or juggling her other activities, meditation has been Orantes's refuge, emotional reliever, and life-defining element. "Zen is about enlightenment, so that potentially you can be enlightened every single moment of your life-millions and trillions of times. The idea is very exciting," she said.

Although Orantes is not sure what she will do after she graduates in May-she doesn't find out whether or not she won the Scholarship until mid-March-she has her ideas. "I will be a teacher, a song writer, a poet, and a humanitarian all rolled into one."

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