If you’re reading this, I assume you are in some way connected to a college. More specifically, you are connected to Eastern University. Whether you are staff or student, stray goose or professor, you play some role here. Perhaps you have found yourself wondering why you are here. I can’t answer that question for each individual, but I can explain why I and a few of my friends are here. The short answer: for the wacky, weird and wonderful.
Personally, I’m here because where else would I get to roller skate through classrooms at one in the morning? Would I get this experience of flying down the same hallways I walked the previous afternoon on my way to class if I didn’t go to college? Of course not!
Sophomore Psychology major Thea Dietze tells me one of her favorite memories is playing hide and seek in McInnis. A junior friend of mine, who wishes to remain anonymous, claims he once walked barefoot through the Dining Commons to obtain a gallon of milk. Several people attest to having slept in classrooms during finals season.
I’ve seen RAs chase after mice armed with nothing but a plastic Wawa bag and pipe cleaners. I’ve sat in Walton’s prayer chapel with friends, singing hymns and musical theater songs until midnight. I’ve lain on the baseball field at night in frosty February with a now-graduated senior who showed me all the constellations she learned in an Astronomy class.
These experiences are just a handful of examples of what the purpose of college is. Of course, we’re here to be educated, to learn new things and to prepare for life after educational institutions. But we’re also here to make friends and cultivate experiences we would not get outside this community. Specifically, we’re here to have fun in the most unexpected ways possible.