By Isabelle Tilley
The Office of Student Involvement, led by Kristin Koch, hosted a two-day Enneagram Workshop in the Collaboratory on Sept. 25-26, bringing together a small group of students for lessons, activities, and reflection.
I showed up on a gray Thursday at 4:30 p.m. with a notebook in my tote and a healthy dose of skepticism. I’d taken a free version of the Enneagram test online back in high school and scored a Type 4, but hadn’t thought much of it since. Between Myers-Briggs, The Big Five, and even things like astrology, there are so many different ways to assess personality that I wasn’t sure that the Enneagram would be much different.
Koch, who wrote her master’s thesis on how the Enneagram can help develop empathy, explained that the goal wasn’t just to pin down a label, but to understand why people act the way that they do. By the end of the weekend, that line made a lot more sense.
My score crowned me a Type 7 (The Enthusiast). Accurate…ish. But by the end of Friday, after lessons, activities, and more uncomfortable honesty than I expected to share with near-strangers, I realized I’m a Type 4 with a 3 wing, the Individualist who wants to be both authentic and impressive.
If that sounds like a contradiction, welcome to the Enneagram.
Quick overview: What the Enneagram is (and isn’t)
Think of the Enneagram as a motivation map, not a behavior label. It looks under the hood at why you act, not just what you do. It divides human motivation up into nine core types, each with its own strengths, fears, and patterns of growth.
You have one main type, but it’s shaped by several key factors that make everyone’s version a little different. These are the “key ingredients” of the Enneagram which, basically, are the moving parts that define how your personality works. Tests can narrow it down, but you can also self-identify after reflection.
- Key ingredients:
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- Basic Desire (what you’re moving toward)
- Basic Fear (what you’re moving away from)
- Wounding/Healing messages (the story you picked up vs. what you need to internalize)
- Levels of health (how the same motive looks at healthy/average/unhealthy)
- Wings (the adjacent numbers that tint your core type)
- Stress/Security lines (where you tend to go under pressure or when grounded)
- Ground rule: Don’t use your number as an excuse, or someone else’s as a weapon.
The nine types at a glance (speed tour)
(Super summed up, student-friendly. “Watch-out” = the habit to notice and work on.)
1 : The Reformer (“Do it right.”)
- Desire: To be good, have integrity.
- Fear: Being bad/defective.
- Healthy: Principled, improvement-minded.
- Watch-out: Rigid, self-critical perfectionism.
2 : The Helper (“How can I help?”)
- Desire: To be loved/needed.
- Fear: Being unwanted.
- Healthy: Warm, generous connectors.
- Watch-out: People-pleasing, hidden strings.
3 : The Achiever (“Make it happen.”)
- Desire: To be valuable/successful.
- Fear: Being worthless.
- Healthy: Energetic, focused, inspiring.
- Watch-out: Image-driven, work = worth.
4 : The Individualist (“Make it meaningful.”)
- Desire: To find identity/authenticity.
- Fear: Having no personal significance.
- Healthy: Creative, emotionally honest.
- Watch-out: Envy, romanticizing suffering.
5 : The Investigator (“Understand it fully.”)
- Desire: To be capable/competent.
- Fear: Being overwhelmed/helpless.
- Healthy: Insightful, observant, original.
- Watch-out: Withdrawing, hoarding energy.
6 : The Loyalist (“Plan for real life.”)
- Desire: Security/support.
- Fear: Being without guidance or certainty.
- Healthy: Loyal, responsible, vigilant.
- Watch-out: Worst-case spirals, indecision.
7 : The Enthusiast (“On to the next adventure.”)
- Desire: Freedom, satisfaction.
- Fear: Pain/limits/deprivation.
- Healthy: Optimistic, versatile, joyful.
- Watch-out: FOMO, skimming instead of staying.
8 : The Challenger (“Say it with your chest.”)
- Desire: Self-protection, autonomy.
- Fear: Being controlled/harmed.
- Healthy: Courageous, just, decisive.
- Watch-out: Steamrolling, avoiding vulnerability.
9 : The Peacemaker (“Keep the peace.”)
- Desire: Inner stability/harmony.
- Fear: Loss of connection/conflict.
- Healthy: Calm, unifying, steady.
- Watch-out: Numbing out, passive resistance.
What are wings?
Wings help further specify what type you fall under. They are the neighbors to your main number that add flavor (e.g., 4w3 is more polished/expressive; 4w5 more inward/avant-garde). Under stress, you take on a specific type’s shadows; in security, you borrow another type’s strengths.
Inside the lessons
Across short lectures and move-around-the-room exercises, we covered:
- The Nine Types with each type’s basic fear/desire, the wounding/healing messages, and a signature pitfall (like 7’s “more, more, more” or 4’s envy). The language is frank but surprisingly humane.
- Healthy/Average/Unhealthy levels, a reality check that none of us live at our best, or worst, full-time. (Yes, 3s, you are more than your LinkedIn.)
- Wings, the adjacent flavors that tint a core type. For example, 4w3s (me) are more outward-facing and productive; 4w5s are quieter, more unconventional.
- Stress/Security lines (where you go under pressure or when you feel safe). 7s tighten into 1-ish perfectionism under stress; in security, they deepen into 5-like focus. 4s lean 2-ish in stress and 1-ish in security.
- Triads & Stances, which sort types by head/heart/gut and by how we over- or under-use thinking, feeling, or doing.
What it felt like to be there
The Collaboratory’s glass walls made everything visible, students drifting between taped-off “Heart/Head/Gut” zones during prompts like “When you walk into a room, what do you notice first?”
It felt less like a lecture and more like lab work on being human. We argued (gently) over scenarios (“Your friend cancels last minute, what now?”), and for once, everyone’s different instincts were the entire point.
Between bites of catered dinner, the most repeated reminder was oddly freeing: tests help, but they aren’t definitive; you self-identify after sitting with motives.
My initial result labeled me a Type 7, The Enthusiast, which felt flattering enough. But as the lessons went on, I kept recognizing pieces of Type 4 instead: a fear of lacking identity, a need to be seen for who I am, and the 3 wing’s constant push to refine that self until it shines. The combination made sense. I’m driven to create and to stand out, but also quick to question whether what I make is truly my own.
Koch’s explanation helped clarify it. Behaviors can look similar across numbers, she said, but motives are what separate them. That distinction turned out to be the point of the whole weekend. The Enneagram is for understanding not just what we do, but why we do it.
Why it matters (on campus and beyond)
It’s mid-semester. People are frayed. Group projects exist. The Enneagram’s best campus value might be shared language for conflict and care. Instead of “She’s flaky,” you might realize, “Her 9-ish avoidance kicks in when there’s tension.”
Instead of “He dominates conversations,” you might clock an 8’s fear of being controlled, and set clearer boundaries. As Koch put it, knowing someone’s number can be “vulnerable,” because you’re essentially revealing “the best and worst things about yourself in one go.” Handle with care.
The takeaway
I left with a keychain stamped “4,” a notes app full of ahas, and, unexpectedly, more gentleness toward myself and the people I love. The Enneagram didn’t shrink anyone to a label; it gave us mirrors and maps.
It also gave me language for interviews and relationships (file under: senior-year life skills). Do I still love 7-energy? Yes. But now I can see the 4 underneath, the part of me that wants to make something beautiful out of the mess, and the 3 that wants it to matter in public.
If you try it, heed the two best rules of the workshop weekend: don’t use your number as an excuse, and don’t use someone else’s as a weapon. The point isn’t to be right about each other; it’s to be kinder.