Written by Sophie Vershbow
As long as you don't ask a Hamilton student about how much they love their school in the dead of winter, you are likely to receive an overwhelmingly positive response. Complaining about our school can sometimes appear to be the new cool thing to do, and become increasingly more popular as the days grow darker, and both homework and snow seem to endlessly pile up. But if you listen to what students say, it's more than likely you will find a strong undertone of affection for life at Hamilton College. Hamilton College offers its students an incredible opportunity to take advantage of an intellectual faculty and student body through small classrooms, supportive computer networks, and fairly magnificent campus facilities. While attending school, Hamilton students can sleep like royalty-as long as their lottery number is decent enough to score a nice dorm room-eat great food both on and off campus, and have snowball fights for over half the year. Yet, in order to take advantage of their four years at Hamilton, they must be able to make the best of what can often be a trying and narrow life outside of academics. Not only is the Greek system still going through a certain amount of upheaval due to its lack of housing, but the nightlife available in rural central New York is fairly limited, especially for freshmen. It takes a particular level of creativity to realize that Hamilton College abounds with opportunities all of the time, it just requires a little originality and some time. There are many things to do beyond drinking every night, and it doesn't take most students very much time to figure out how to make their own fun. Having a car can also make time spent here more agreeable, although even for freshmen, there is hope; most upperclassmen happily take pity on other students who don't have the means to get off campus.
Change is constant at Hamilton College. Much of the campus has received a facelift in the past few years, and there is more remodeling planned for the future. Soon, Hamilton College will have a new face; dorms are being renovated, older buildings have been torn down and rebuilt, portions of the darkside are scheduled for remodeling, and a new student center is on the way. Current students are generally excited about the future of their college, and happily planning for the days when the entire nation will come to recognize what a great liberal arts experience Hamilton College can be.