College of Idaho alumnus Rahul Sharma (’14) has been awarded a coveted research scholar position at The Metropolitan Museum of Art—an achievement that he credits, in no small part, to his formative years in Caldwell. 尽管夏尔马现在是艺术品保护领域的新兴人物，但他的道路并不总是一帆风顺。 “我的整个人生轨迹都是在CofI期间形成的，”他回忆道。 从从档案保育员Jan Boles那里得到他的第一台相机，到在Garth Claassen的指导下学习暗室技术，再到与化学教师一起钻研化学过程，Sharma的跨学科文科教育为他从未预料到的职业生涯奠定了基础。 “In all honesty, nothing I directly do in the day to day was taught at CofI… 我在CofI学到的是如何思考。” 他的故事证明了社区、好奇心和正确的文科教育的力量。

“我的整个人生轨迹都是在科菲期间形成的。 当我在考德威尔的时候，我不知道我会进入保护领域，但在社区中，无论是学术还是当地，都为我现在所做的事情奠定了基础。 档案馆的Jan Boles给了我第一台相机（见附在Langroise的照片），以及在Sterry Hall的工作室空间。 Garth gave me full and unrestricted access to the darkroom (I wouldn’t have given me access, but he did). I would have nothing to do with photography, if it wasn’t for Jan and Garth. Dr Truksa and Dr Saunders (see Attached Portrait, c. 2013) in the chemistry department, helped with understanding the chemistry behind what I was doing, remaining patient even though I accidentally almost filled an entire lab full of Nitric Acid fumes. It wasn’t just the folks at the college. Steve Towrey (of Printcraft) was my neighbor, and would bring about old photos for me to look at. 我从安迪·易（Andy Yee）那里学会了如何拿稳画笔，他曾在学院对面的NAPA工作。 真的需要一个村庄。

老实说，我每天直接做的事情都没有在CofI学到。 But then, a liberal arts education isn’t a professional education. 我在CofI学到的是如何思考。 I graduated in 2014, and as time passes, the classes that originally seemed like fluff become more and more pertinent. 和Yensen博士一起上爱达荷州自然史课，和Seibold博士一起上社会学课。 和Islam博士和Schaper博士一起上文学课。  当然，作为一名艺术专业的亚美体育官方网站，我很怀念Fisher教授和Classen教授以及Goran Fazil老师的课堂。 But I think my life would have been a lot less rich, a lot less meaningful, if I had gone somewhere else, and studied just Art. 

I can guarantee you that I would not be where I am today, if it wasn’t for the education, I received at CofI, and the people I got to meet while I was there.” ——Rahul Sharma ' 14