GRINNELL, Iowa — Grinnell College dedicated a brand-new residence hall on Saturday to a trailblazer for both the school and town of Grinnell. Edith Renfrow-Smith is the school's oldest living and first Black woman to graduate.
A total of 110 Grinnell College students will both live and learn at Renfrow Hall once it officially opens.
The building will also have dorm rooms plus a meeting room where students will participate in a concept called civic innovation.
“Civic innovation can mean where the college and the community meet,” Grinnell College President Anne F. Harris said. “There will be meetings that bring people together, whether they're organizations or events or gatherings. It can also be the work of civic innovation, of cities reinventing themselves, thinking themselves over.”
110-year-old Renfrow was born and raised in Grinnell. She was the only Black student at Grinnell College when she attended the school from 1933 to 1937. Renfrow majored in psychology and minored in sociology and economics.
“She has said over and over, Grinnell is my life,” said Dr. Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant, who teaches gender, women's and sexuality studies. “This is a person who has always seen what Grinnell could be.”
After graduating, Renfrow went on to teach at the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) in Chicago. Then she spent 22 years teaching 5th and 6th grade in the Chicago Public School system before retiring in 1976.
Amanda Neal said her great great aunt’s story of overcoming obstacles continues to inspire her to this day.
“I am a welder now, so being the only woman in my welding field, I look up to her,” Neal said. “I keep her head strong, I keep her willpower to not let anybody tear me down.”
Grinnell hopes that future students stepping foot in Renfrow Hall realize that they too can achieve whatever they set their mind to.
“No one is better than you,” Beauboeuf-Lafontant said. “People may have things that outwardly seem significant. But there's a uniqueness in you. There's something special about you and never forget that.”
Renfrow Hall will officially open by the start of the spring semester. Staff from the Community Engagement Office, Residence Life and the Center for Career Life and Service will all work together there as well.