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I ended up living in a triple in college with two grads from The Lawrenceville
School in Princeton, NJ.
What made their private high school experience different than my public
one?
Aside from the exposure to "blue books," it
was the ancient lore from their high school. Most public high schools
don't have any published stories or histories, but this private one did,
called The Lawrenceville Stories, published in the early 20th century.
This single fiction publication series sets the Lawrenceville School apart
from rivals like Hackley, Choate, Groton, and Phillips Academy.
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When colleges today are searching for ways to differentiate
themselves from their immediate competition, let alone their public equivalents,
one of the biggest stones left unturned is the one covering up their storied
history. Most college websites have a few brief paragraphs about when the college
was founded, its mission and all that other stuff that prospects ignore. But
almost none have any alumni stories of adventures on campus way back when, posted
on their website.
Experience
fads at our campus, way ahead of all others.
One fact that you won't find on the carleton.edu website [or any other website
for that matter], is that college streaking was first reported in the national
media by none other than Walter Cronkite back in 1971 about an incident that
occurred during a school play involving a woman streaker. The fad didn't get
into full swing until three years later nationwide but it sure did catch on
with Dale and Marty from first Davis that very cold winter of 1971. Carleton
may also be the innovator of the streaking shark [a naked guy with a frisbee
between his buttocks]. And of course, there had to be a "crackdown"
on streaking, right? None of that mentioned anywhere online.
The point here is that these stories that every college campus
has collected and stored somewhere on campus or in the minds of alumni should
find their way to the college website. Every campus has their own Lawrenceville
Stories, stories that will emblemize unique experiences for any prospects wondering
where they should get their dream education.
-Tim Corwin
April 2009
