Imagining a Wheaton Multiverse

Picture Wheaton College as a medieval safe haven for fantasy creatures, founded to escape war and prejudice, protected by powerful enchantments. Or imagine a dystopian future where the campus survives catastrophic ocean rise by rebuilding upwards with metal scaffolding, struggling against flooding and resource scarcity and relying on steam-powered AI robots. Or consider a zombie apocalypse, where Biology major roommates must use their scientific knowledge in Wheaton’s labs to develop a cure for the rapidly spreading virus.

Students in the “Worldbuilding” First-Year Experience (FYE) employed their imaginations and creativity to develop alternate versions of Wheaton College in short stories. Their worlds spanned a variety of times (past, present, future), genres (science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc), and incorporated a variety of powers and systems (magic, special abilities, vampires, etc).  

First-year student Jenna Cheuvront envisioned Wheaton as being home to over two-hundred gods and created an illustrated guidebook to help new students. She developed a tiered system ruled by “major gods” with domains like main campus, peacock pond, and the Wheaton Woods. These were supported by Minor Academic Gods, Minor Social Gods, and Theme House Gods. 

An illustration of a golden dragon wrapped around the Wheaton chapel steeple.

Appearance: A golden lung dragon with peacock feathers and a flowing mane that sleeps around the chapel roof.

Behavior: Mostly dormant but will roam the campus skies and attend graduation and orientation ceremonies. It can also be found visiting Eliza Wheaton’s portrait and desk, as she was the one to summon and raise it.

Shrine Location: The Chapel (Please place all offerings near the back of the organ to leave room for assemblies).

Offerings: Outstanding acts that represent the Wheaton ideals: integrity, intelligence, and compassion; elaborate creative projects, flyers/newspapers detailing outstanding acts.

Gifts: Money grants, powerful links to other helpful gods

Grievances: Suspension, expulsion


Many Wheaton landmarks were reinterpreted. Peacock Pond was used by merfolk, transformed into a fish god’s domain, and a place for viewing history through a tree’s perspective. The Wheaton Woods was envisioned as a dangerous prehistoric habitat, the site of a time travel portal to 1834, or a location for a hidden resistance group.  

In order to ground their stories in the history and spaces of the College, students visited the Marion B. Gebbie Class of 1901 Archives to engage in research.  College archivist Taylor McNeilly provided a variety of materials, including former student scrapbooks, collections of photographs, songbooks, and faculty meeting minutes. 

First-year student Julia Perreault responded to the experience, “I was surprised by how touched I was when looking through the scrapbooks from classes in history. I was struck with a deep feeling of connection with these predecessors that had studied in the same buildings and walked the same campus as myself so many years ago.” 

Given the success of the project and the course overall, the Department of Film, Media, and Communication will be offering two sections of the Worldbuilding FYE in Fall 2025.