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FactsSlang
- Gafs - Short for Gaffney’s, a bar on Caroline Street
- Libs - Library
- DA’s - Short for Desperate Annie’s, a popular bar on Caroline Street (and known for taking IDs).
- DT - Downtown. As in, “You going DT tonight?”
- Farmer Chopper - This is the Price Chopper on Ballston Ave, near the bowling alley. Of all the Price Chopper’s, it is the closest to woods.
- Ghetto Chopper - This is the downtown Price Chopper, where you will often find Skidmore students buying their beer every weekend. The smallest of the three Price Choppers, it has earned itself the title “ghetto.”
- Locals - Residents of Saratoga.
- SEC - Student Entertainment Company. They put on the big speakers and concerts each year.
- SGA - Student Government Association. They are the student administrators of the school.
- Skiddie - A Skidmore student.
- T ‘N’ L - Short for a bar called The Tin ‘N’ Lint, though many students only know the abbreviation.
- Townies - Not to be confused with “locals,” this sector of people in Saratoga Springs generally have mullets and missing teeth.
- Uncommon - Short for Uncommon Grounds, a local coffee spot frequented by Skiddies.
Things I Wish I Knew Before Coming To School
- Be prepared for seven months of cold, cold, snowy weather. Pack warmly.
- Get on the smallest meal plan possible.
- If you can’t get into a class at registration, just get on the waiting list, and it is very likely that you can get signed in.
- There is a lot of student apathy.
- Wait until after the first day of class to buy your books.
- You don’t really need to go to any of the orientation activities.
Tips to Succeed
- Check your e-mail at least 10 times a day.
- Don’t kid yourself about being able to wake up for the eight o’clock class you think you want to take.
- Don’t let the green on a (rare) sunny day distract you from that final paper.
- Get to know your professors and take advantage of their availability.
- Learn to find a spot in the library where you will be least tempted to procrastinate by socializing, people-watching, or making-out.
- Pick classes you actually like.
- Try a little bit of everything.
Urban Legends
- Wilmarth is haunted by a former student who died in a dorm fire. Allegedly, the ghost can only be seen from the knees up because the dorm floor was rebuilt at a different level after the fire. Playboy ranked Skidmore among the top ten most attractive American campuses. A “ghost train” runs through North Woods.
Traditions
- Bagpipes - The graduation procession and recession each year are led by a bagpipe band.
- DIVA Night - DIVA began as a gender-bending event sponsored by the Student Price Alliance and grew into a chaotic night of cross-dressing, gender-bending, and well, lots of people wearing very little clothing and dancing. The last few DIVA nights have included student stripping contests, professional drag queens, and a roped-off porn room where several televisions played both homo and heterosexual pornography. Though this often made parents and administrators uncomfortable, DIVA night was one of the most anticipated nights of the year and was meant as an event promoting safe sexuality (both in the “use protection” sense and the feel safe expressing your gender sense). Over the years, the event became, for a lot of students, associated with heavy binge drinking. Because of an inordinate amount of student hospitalizations for alcohol poisoning (all freshmen girls), DIVA night is no more. However, the legend of those crazy nights will certainly echo in students’ memories for a long time to come.
- Graduation Recession - During this part of the ceremony, the new graduates walk through a line of professors who congratulate them on four years of hard work.
- Junior Ring - Traditionally held in the Hall of Springs in November, Junior Ring is an annual semi-formal dance sponsored by the junior class. Because of an inordinate amount of underage drinking, the event was moved to the City Center.
- Mounted Campus Safety Officers - During special event weekends, Skidmore’s Campus Security officers ride horses.
- Mr. Skidmore - Every year, students nominate their male friends, and the school holds a pageant in the Spa packed with a talent competition, interview questions, and so on. A winner is selected and fans his face as he is crowned as “Mr. Skidmore,” the school’s very own male representative of morality, but not often dignity!
- Under the Big Top - Skidmore’s dance and musical groups perform in this show for Parent’s Weekend and Graduation.
School Spirit
This is lacking at Skidmore for a few reasons: 1) Athletics are a very small part of Skidmore life. Art, music, and dance dominate most support from students in terms of attendance at performances. 2) Skidmore doesn’t have a football team. 3) Skidmore students seem to be more involved in individual interests and issues, rather than in the school community as a whole.
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