Alright, hello everybody, thank you so much for joining us this evening. It looks like we have a number of people still rolling in, but we're going to go ahead and get started. My name is Nancy York. I'm a senior associate director of admission and I'm actually coming to you live from New Orleans where I live and work remotely for Swanee. So for those of you from Louisiana, Hello, I've got two fantastic Swanee students with me tonight who are going to talk with you about.
Campus life at Celani. We're going to go through some kind of guided conversation about all the different ways that our students are involved on campus, from residential life to service to food on campus, we're going to talk about it all. I'm gonna go ahead and let Matthew and Amanda introduce themselves, and then I'll go over just a few housekeeping things with you before we get started.
Alright, so good evening everyone. I am Matthew 10 tank oh I am a senior biochemistry and Spanish double major. I'm also on the pre Med track just a couple things that I do when I'm not in senior interviewer or a panelist in Fulford. I am a Co liaison for our pre health tutoring program. I'm also a senior diabetes education fellow and also.
A tenor in our gospel choir.
Nice. Hi, I'm Amanda. I'm a junior here from Chattanooga, TN. I'm here to double major in English and psychology. Then for fun around campus I'm on our fencing team, our dance team. I tutor at our Center for speaking and listening. I work in our dining hall as a student dining advisor. I give tours around campus and I hope that's it. Oh, I live in the writing house. Whenever I theme houses.
Awesome, I was joking with our panelists before the session that I am sometimes like just in complete awe of how much Swanee students do. And so I'm really grateful that Matthew and Amanda are taking time away from their evenings tonight to talk with us. So thank you both. Again, we're looking forward to hearing what you have to say tonight. But so for folks who are tuning in, I wanna let you know that this is supposed to be very much a conversation and so we want to ask answer the questions.
Alice
06:03:02 PM
Good morning!^_^
Sher Shah
06:03:03 PM
Hello!
That you have brought with you tonight so you will see that there is a chat feature on your screen at any point. If you have a question, please feel free to chat that question in. We'd also love to know where you are from and for you to say hello as well. We've already got some people chatting in, so feel free to chat in those questions. Let us know where you're coming from. It is a moderated chat, so if you don't see those questions appear right away, we'll make sure that they do come through.
Aiden
06:03:34 PM
Hello from Boca Raton!
For those questions that Amanda and Matthew won't be able to answer in real time, I will be typing in some responses to questions as well that I think I can answer. So either way, we want to make sure that we get those questions answered for you, and I see those starting to roll in so fabulous. Alright, so we're going to go ahead and get things kicked off and I want to start by setting the scene a little bit about the celani community. So for those of you who haven't been to Suwannee before.
It is an incredibly small, close knit community that's really driven by, I think 1 central value, and that's oreke quam bonam and it's our university motto. It's from a passage from Psalms that essentially helps guide the way we live, and that's about thinking about dwelling together in unity and how beautiful and pleasant it is for all of us to get to live together on the mountain and enjoy four years together as.
Really, a family. Like I said at the beginning, our students are involved in so much and your time on campus is more than just being a student. But really an active member of the Suwannee community and I think one of the reasons that our community is so close is that almost 100% of our students live on campus and so you really are living together throughout your four years, you're living together, you're eating together, you're playing together and learning together. And so I think it's appropriate that we start the conversation.
By talking about that kind of residential experience and Amanda, I know that you have been a Proctor on campus, which I'm hoping you'll tell us a little bit more about and maybe get us get us kicked off and talking about kind of living at Swanee and what that residential experience is like.
Van
06:05:10 PM
Hi! I'm from Camden, SC
Arthur
06:05:11 PM
From Cloudcroft, New Mexico
John
06:05:13 PM
Hi! I am from North Carolina
Nick
06:05:14 PM
Hello from Charlotte, NC!
Rex
06:05:17 PM
Hi Everyone! My name is Rex Burkman from Indiana
Alice
06:05:18 PM
Hello from China~
Nahuel
06:05:20 PM
Greetings from Paraguay!
Emma
06:05:21 PM
hi from Mississippi
Stevens
06:05:22 PM
Good evening from Florida!
Mara
06:05:24 PM
Hello from Atlanta!
Annalise
06:05:30 PM
Hello from Texas!
Nyssa
06:05:32 PM
Hello from Texas
Alexandra
06:05:33 PM
Hi from NC
Yeah definitely last year. As a sophomore I was a Proctor which is like the Swanee equivalent of an RA, but we call him proctors 'cause they're much more hall mom and Dad instead of like campus police. They're here to check in with you and help build that community so we host events in our halls. Like with they, they had a really big one last year where we smashed a pinata full of spaghetti.
EmmaGrace
06:05:39 PM
Hello from Spartanburg, SC!
I don't know a lot of weird things going on, but it was a lot of fun to see that community getting brought together.
Clare
06:05:45 PM
Hello from Maryland!
Sophie
06:05:50 PM
Hello from Texas!
In terms of campus living, we have 19 residence halls on campus as well as 18 themed houses that we'll talk about later, and each of them are pretty unique.
Like they they are like pretty catered to a certain kind of person or have their own certain aesthetics. So like for example one of our house is known as the Haunted Hall tuckaway and.
Brooks
06:06:21 PM
Hi from atlanta!
Graham
06:06:22 PM
Hello from Charleston
Ayers is known for looking like a hotel. Smith is known for its fireplace, so they all have these different features that help exemplify everything that they're about. Make them more fun.
Izzy
06:06:31 PM
hi from boston. would like to hear about attending school on the mountain. does its setting strengthen campus life?
I love it well and we have a a question actually already about, you know, kind of the environment that we live in and I think this is probably like one of the most asked questions too. Is about you know what it's like living on top of the mountain kind of in rural Tennessee. And so when I review willing to talk about kind of like your experience, just living on the amount on the mountain, what it's like to you know, kind of live on the domain on our 13,000 acres. What is that experience?
Yeah, I think I can start off with this uhm. I know I've talked about this before and the first word that comes to mind when I think about living on top of the mountain is resourceful because you know, being in the setting that we are, you see much more people. Many of your peers and your professors more than you would think of leaving the campus for anything. And so you really take time to dedicate to your studies. 'cause that's what we all need to do.
Abby
06:07:38 PM
Hi from New York!
But also you find time and ways to spend with your friends. So we're all just kind of concentrated here and we only leave the mountain when we really need to. You know, people don't go home every weekend. It's not really normal here because we always have something going on and we're always feeding into that.
I actually had a bit of a weird experience just because I do live in Chattanooga, which is like a 45 minute drive away. So my freshman year I was going home almost every weekend to see my mom. But since I've I've grown and gotten a little less homesick, it's not typical to want to leave them out. And I guess I would want to say, I know that a lot of big city people tend to say like there's not a Walmart a block away or.
You know Wendy's next door, and that's fair, that is, but we have a lot of small businesses in town and right in downtown Swanee that we like to promote. We have our own little restaurants up here that are.
Also majority student run as well and so we have the accessibility to work with those and enhance our own student life and community instead of.
You know, just like escaping to big chains, which I found a lot of fun, so I enjoy doing that.
And they have so many events too, that there's always something to do on the weekend anyway. It's not like you need to leave to go see a band, or you know, just have a fun night with your friends. We do game night here all the time.
I want to echo what she said. I come from the city and I really don't feel in need to leave the campus even though I have my car here, there's always something to do. An event being thrown somewhere and it's a lot of fun.
Nick
06:09:55 PM
How does Sewanne pair roommates/suitemates?
Yeah, well and you know one of the things that I really appreciated about my swan experience too was having an opportunity to, you know, come in freshman year and have really amazing opportunities to to get connected with other students, like right off the bat and one of the best ways. I think that that happened for me was going through silanis like potluck rooming assignment and we've got a question here about how celani pairs students with roommates.
And you know, unlike some other institutions, you aren't able to choose your roommate your freshman year. But I think that actually works out to students benefits 'cause you have an opportunity to maybe connect with people that you might not have otherwise, and so would you be willing to kind of share, like your experience with that kind of like first housing experience and what it was like. You know, getting connected with that roommate for the first time.
I love talking about this.
My freshman year, none of my friends from high school. No one I knew was coming to Suwannee anyway so I wasn't too attached to having a certain person as my roommate. They sent out our housing questionnaire which was like.
80 something questions my freshman year and that's anything from when you go to bed. How neat are you like? The boring stuff that people lie on? I'm joking to things like if you had a dog breed like what dog breed would you be? Or if you had a theme song that played every time you walked into a room, what would it be? Pretty uniquely. I think Swani is the only school that I've heard of that does this if.
When you submit those, our residential life staff go through all of those by hand, so it's not a computer generated system pairing you guys together, and I think that was really cool and a nice little personal touch.
Aiden
06:11:50 PM
Does a student need a car?
Yeah I think to add onto the personal touch they really pay attention to your preferences and who you are and who you say you are. I remember meeting my roommate. He was from Kentucky. I was like I've never met anyone from Kentucky. This is cool and we had the same kind of attitude when it came to like social life. But then also academics. And then they also put us in the kind of buildings I wouldn't freeze hall our freshman year, which has a lot of seniors in it.
And so seeing those seniors that have kind of gone through most of their college career already and are still, you know at it with their work, but balancing everything that was something that we both really benefited from. And that was the kind of vibe that we were looking for. And so I think res life has a really high success rate when it comes to making roommates. I have a lot of friends that are still rooming with their freshman year roommates.
Aiden
06:12:28 PM
Where do students do laundry?
And it's senior year. You know there are many options to live alone in a single or expand to a bigger suite or even a triple, but it works out in the end for a lot of people.
Yeah, well and it's funny that you say that too because I was friends or friends I I ended up seeing friends and roomed with my freshman year roommate for three years. Epsilon E. So it really does work. So a couple other questions too. So and these are pretty basic but really important. So we're going to do laundry.
Well, we have free laundry accessible in all of our halls and houses just right outside my door. Pretty much and they're pretty adequate. So like I'm in a house with ten people right now and we share the washer dryer. Other larger holes will have like 5 and you don't have to bring quarters, which is great.
Yeah, I really want to stress the free laundry. It just makes everything so much better. It's so fun and I also live kind of like right outside the laundry in Smith Hall where I live and we have about four washers and four dryers and you'll see you'll have more dryers where you have more residents and it all just makes sense. It's very accessible. The only thing is you just have to make sure you don't choose like a Friday morning or something when everyone is.
Also, trying to do their laundry.
Well, I don't think that anyone can probably imagine like how valuable that actually is, unless you've had to lug quarters around to like go to.
The Laundromat or something like that so it really is huge. Well and Matthew how sweet to that. You're like right there. The laundry room that's clutch. Well in one problem getting around campus too so I know when I was a student I rode my bike everywhere but you can also bring a car to campus. Did y'all bring cars to campus? Do you? Do you drive at all at 20 or do y'all mostly bike and walk?
All students, including freshmen, can have their cars on campus. Of course I had my car freshman sophomore year.
Or I guess only the second semester of freshman year, because I would drive down to the lakes for my rowing practices, but.
That that first semester I got to make a lot of friends through carpooling and you can usually find someone that's going off campus when you if you want to leave and go somewhere. And they also offered. I know COVID is like shaking things up, being close to people in a van, but at least my freshman year. I'm not sure if they still do it 'cause I've had friends who drive me anywhere, but they had a shuttle running on Sundays that went to the Walmart in Chattanooga and back.
Nyssa
06:15:28 PM
How close together are all the buildings? Is it a far walk between classes and residence halls?
So I originally brought my car to campus.
Two semesters ago, so my second semester junior year, and it's been fun. I have, you know, it was nice to have it just in case. You know, if I didn't feel like walking in the rain or something, but the first two years, and I guess the first five semesters that I was at Swanee, I didn't really feel a need to have a car. As Amanda said, you have friends or will know people that will be willing to drive you around. I think that just really speaks to the community.
We have here, you know everyone is going around. They need to go to the theater, school, the TWC, or go to their dorm, which is a little further down. There are always going to be people going to Walmart or trying to get some food and you just have to find them and it'll workout that way. Other than that, I mean walking. It's great exercise. I learned that once I brought my car here, you know, I, I really undervalued walking before that and I also did have a bike my sophomore year.
And so everything is pretty accessible while you're here, so you do not need a car.
And then in terms of going across campus, like how far everything is I.
Graham
06:16:48 PM
Do you go to Nashville and Chattanooga
Only really ride my bike when I'm in a rush. I'd say it's probably.
I'm I'm in a place pretty far off or considered far off campus, and it's a 10 minute walk to one of the furthest buildings from here. You know, it's a four ish minute walk to the library, 10 minute walk to the dining hall, which really isn't isn't too much, especially if you make the walk with your friends.
Yeah, absolutely, and I think that when I first visited Suwannee and I heard that there were 13,000 acres. I really felt like I was like Oh my gosh, that's so big we're going to have to drive everywhere. Everything is going to be super spread out and so you know when you'll have a chance to visit campus. I think you'll see how easily accessible everything really is.
Annalise
06:17:39 PM
How easy is it to work as a student and what kind of jobs are available at or around campus?
OK, so we've got some other good questions here too and send one over now about how easy is it to work on campus and a little bit about having jobs as a Swanee student. And Amanda, I know that you used to work in the dining hall, so would you tell us a little bit about maybe dining at celani and also your experience as a student worker?
Yeah, sure I work as their student dining advisor, which is like the fancy name. My guess where I do their social media. So follow us at Swanee Dining and that's a really fun opportunity. I met our head chef my freshman year, just going to events and we got close. She was like hey come come like join my student board for dinner and she made us a fancy dinner.
Merrill
06:18:40 PM
would you stay on campus all four years?
One night and it was really great, but it's just something that goes to show how you get invited to one event and suddenly you have a job and it's really cool. I know some jobs come from like financial aid packages and work study, but we also have definitely those opportunities for merit based or application based. Working here on campus like I'm doing in the dining hall. We also have students who work with our dining workers.
Nancy York
06:19:04 PM
Hi Merrill, yes, all of our students live on campus for four years!
As servers, sometimes in the bakery baking things, which I think has been a lot of fun whenever they let me in there, I sneak in and bake something.
My gosh I'm getting hungry now.
Well, in Matthew you work in one of my favorite places at Suwannee.
Yeah, so Sterling's coffeehouse is our beloved place for caffeine. Other than the library there, there's a place in there. But I'm gonna Rep Sterlings where I work and.
Nahuel
06:20:00 PM
how is the dining system at sewanee?
You can work with. There are work study students and there are also people like me who just applied for a job. I was like wow, I really need some money. So let's go do that and it's fun. As Amanda said, this is one of the student run organizations almost we do have not swaney hired like managers who handle all the business sides. But when it comes to people making your food, preparing it, serving it, steaming up your drinks, that is us and I really feel.
That I've gotten a lot of leadership and like personal experience out of it dealing with people you know and working with food.
And it's just a lot of fun now in terms of work study in case anyone was curious, I do have a couple friends that are doing work study as part of their plan here. And you know, there are certain jobs assigned to just kind of sign up and then do it, and then at the end of the year, if you decide that was not the job for you there. If there are spots to be able to look at our farm or maybe helping out with like facilities management stuff that's there for you too.
I'm curious, I know. My experience was really one where I ate virtually all of my meals in the dining hall. I mean, there are a lot of other places to eat on campus, but where do y'all eat on campus? Do you find that you mostly gravitate towards Mcclurg, and if So what is your favorite mcclurg? Which is our dining hall meal and then maybe what's another place that y'all enjoy eating on campus besides sterlings?
Heavy in Mcclurg dining hall? Go where we? I think that's facilitated by we get. I think it's something ridiculous like 99 swipes into the dining hall every day. So essentially the unlimited plan and that's so that you can use the dining hall as a shortcut to class. Go sit in there and read a book. Have some.
Which might not be super healthy for me just to sit there in front of the the VAT of free coffee that they have ready for me while I'm reading. But outside of the dining hall food we also get domain dollars 150 a semester on our little like student cards and we go spend them elsewhere.
I don't generally do that, but I will if I'm working in the library on a certain day, I'll go to the cup and gown or a little in-house cafe in there, and.
Spend some of my domain dollars there, but I rarely run out.
And then talking about our favorite Mcclurg meals.
Nyssa
06:22:33 PM
What are domain dollars?
McClure has a very special place in my heart because I'm like pretty severely allergic to gluten. They go through and specifically label every single thing that they're making that day.
With dairy free soy, free, vegan or gluten free if they are and they do a pretty good job feeding those of us with dietary restrictions, being sure to like religiously. Mark everything so because of that.
One of my favorite meals is when they make gluten free and vegan pancakes.
And they'll make special sauces for us. And sometimes we'll have like sweet potato wedges on the side. And those are just.
Our vegan gluten free dairy free line has the best sweet potatoes in the entire world. I stand by that, but I'd like to go through and list all of our lines that we have in the dining hall. I will fail look them up online. I can't do it. I'm sorry.
Yeah, I was gonna say like Nancy, that is a hard question just because of all the variety you can get. I will attempt it Amanda. So like if you walk in you can see like vegan line which again is very good for people with dietary restrictions and you can get some really good vegetables. Really creative like forms of barbecue made from jackfruit and then there's also the sun line which is just like a bunch of broths and.
Nancy York
06:24:08 PM
Each student has a Flex Dollars account that is automatically funded each semester with a $150 deposit with unused balances from the fall term rolling over to the spring. Flex Dollars are accepted at The Tiger Bay Pub, Stirling's Coffee House, McClurg Dining (typically used to host your guests), The Blue Chair Cafe and Tavern, and Shenanigans restaurant and food truck.
Meet some noodles and rice and everything you can think of, with all the toppings you need. There is a salad bar. There's a dessert station you can't forget that, but I think for me, aside from the home line, which has kind of like the big bread and butter, you know regular dinner that everyone is looking for and the pasta next to it. There is the.
See the table, the scene and I feel like they're fish and shrimp. Do not fail very often or much at all, and so I like to go there and if I'm not feeling that there is a grill or you can get burgers and hot dogs just a lot of options and then once you start like kind of crossing the lines and you know grabbing some like cherry tomatoes from over there but then getting like the spinach that's over in the vegan line, you can really make a plate that you like and it's a buffet.
Jack
06:24:54 PM
can you take food back to your dorm from clurg?
So you know there's a lot of ways to go around clerk, so I I do like to seafood table, but I also I'm a Big Breakfast guy and so you know, on any day you can find other hash Browns or grits or tater tots. Something of that sort, some eggs, hard boiled and scrambled, some kind of meats like ham or bacon biscuits and gravy. Everything you would think breakfast is aside from the waffle maker, they could just make waffles all day evening for dinner if you wanted.
But as far as where I go when I'm not going to my clerk, we also have a place downtown called the Tavern and I just love Chicken wings and so I always go there and get a good amount of chicken wings and some beer battered fries. And that is my go to outside of my clerk.
Oh my gosh, I really should have eaten dinner before this session. This all sounds so good.
There was a quick question too about taking food to go from Mcclurg. Does Mcclurg offered to go meals?
We did in the time of COVID have to go boxes take out that were like little recyclable and reusable plastic boxes, so no waste. But those have since gone away because of some staffing issues. You know, like having students check all of those out, I don't know when we'll get them back, but currently we just eat in the dining hall because it's a great place to build community.
If you bring in your own containers, though, like your own containers, I have my little coffee mug here that I take out all my drinks in. Yes, you can take it to go.
And I would also say that like.
You know you don't have to like eat everything in there like if you get an ice cream cone, but you kind of need to make your way to class or you know you got a cookie, grab a banana or something of that sort. Like totally fine. It's not like there's someone waiting at the door to check if you're bringing anything out, and so again, it's a buffet, so you'll probably stuff yourself before you leave.
Well, and you don't really fully appreciate it until you don't have Mcclurg anymore and I missed it so much. So OK, before I, you know. Keep thinking about food. Let's talk a little bit about whether we're going to jump all over the place. What what's the weather like in Swanee right now? And kind of tell me about like the seasons in Swanee over the course of the year.
Nahuel
06:27:41 PM
What is the weather like at Sewanee? Does it get cold at night?
Yeah, so right now it is a little bit chilly. You know it was raining like last night and.
Adriana
06:28:07 PM
Hello from Long Island
Today it was it was OK. A little cloudy but a couple days ago it was super warm, 60s and 70s and I think that is more true to what Swanee is like in the spring. Which is my favorite season because in those four days that the Sun came out, all of the don't know what kind of flowers they are but the yellow flowers that are all over campus just kind of bloomed and they are.
Daffodil, OK, so they are all out and they are there and I think now that all the greenery is coming back with the spring. That is really awesome. And then in the fall you can see everything changed slowly and then fall and then the winter is not too bad down here. Although I could be biased. I am from Chicago so.
I don't want other things I loved about Swanee is that you really get 4 distinct seasons and I grew up in eastern North Carolina so we we got Four Seasons, but it always seems like it was extreme and in Swanee it's a little bit more moderate, but I know with the students that I work with from Louisiana. They're so excited to actually have like a winter and a fall instead of just a year long summer so.
We get generally around two good snows a year, and I'm a winter person so I enjoy that, but it does get quite toasty up here as well. We also have something pretty iconic called the Swanee Fog.
Izzy
06:29:21 PM
sewanee is known for its traditions. can you talk about some of those
I've heard there are T shirts, mains, Swanee fog really cool, but that's just when a really dense fog sets in up here because of our our altitude we are on a mountain.
And you can't see a building 20 feet in front of you, and I think it's so cool and so majestic and I like to summon my good Lord Edgar Allan Poe. Whenever a Raven flies across in front of me, I love the fog.
Well, that was such a silly thing to say with our great literary tradition. That was perfect.
Well, and thinking of celani fog made me think about traditions and so we had a question about some traditions on campus and Swanee is certainly known for some of our traditions. Do y'all have a favorite? I know there are a lot to choose from, but what would your favorite Swanee tradition be?
The order of the gown I think my movie I have my gown. It's hanging up in my closet over there, but I recommend looking up a picture instead.
Yes, delightful the gown.
Yes, Swami Oxford yeah, but you have.
Nyssa
06:31:00 PM
Do you usually get snow?
Hannah
06:31:02 PM
hi from Mississippi!!
Swanee and Oxford are the only two schools in the world that uphold the wearing of the gown outside of graduation. And if you look up pictures, ours look cooler. I didn't say that though. Yeah, there are these long gowns that we get to wear around campus. It's our academic Honor Society that you can go in starting your sophomore year based on GPA or merit based requirements and then you get to flaunt them around campus so.
I love it. That's perfect Matthew that you had yours right there.
Yeah, I was like just in case you need to have it. It's not swanning without it.
I also have to agree that my favorite tradition is the gown. It's part of. Kind of why I came here. I was like, well, that's unique. That's cool. You know, I wanna, I wanna do that and really like it does speak to how we take academics seriously here even though we do have fun and and we celebrate that, you know you'll see I have a couple pins. This ones from Fulford. And then I've got a couple things here. This one was from high school. This one has the American and the Filipino flag because I'm.
Emma
06:31:50 PM
i hear a lot about the passing hello and your sewanee angel, what are those?
Filipino American lessons from my scholarship program and then this is from the pre health office as a pre health student. Well other people have it all decked out with everything that they're interested in. They've got, you know, other flags and their sororities or fraternities on here. Just funny. I know some people have like funny vines on here and made into buttons and so it's really something that you can customize, but I think another.
Tradition that I really enjoy is.
The signing the Honor code. I don't have to say that because one thing I remember is when we did that, you touch one of the the, the cornerstone of peace of the cornerstone that was originally part of the first building in Suwanee. And then you signed on our code saying you won't lie to your steel and then they say you know what you're all gonna thanks, you're gonna go in different ways and you're going to grow in ways you didn't think you would grow up. And I think maybe I'm just getting really sentimental because graduation is coming up.
And then we're all gonna come back together, having accomplished so many things. Been to so many places.
And so I think it's a really great way to kind of start it off and right before that we took our class photo so it'll be fun to.
Now it's beautiful like making me tear up too.
I see another tradition mentioned down there that I really like. That's the Swanee Angel. I didn't find out about this until my freshman year when I was actually on campus and I was riding around carpooling with some of my senior friends. We drove through the gates of the university and they all like smacked their roof and I was like haha.
Evans
06:33:39 PM
Can you please explain more on the Sewanee Dress Code
Merrill
06:33:42 PM
Can you talk about the unofficial dress code?
Swanee is inhabited by angels because we're on a mountain close to the heavens, and because it's just so beautiful that the angels chose Swanee to live in.
And as you're driving out of the gates of our university, these two big stone pillars you tap your roof to collect a swanee Angel. Then you carry it with you, and it keeps you safe and hopes that one day you'll return. Tap your roof again and release the Angel back into its natural habitat. But I I really enjoy driving with my friends in doing that like religiously. Every time I pass through the gates.
It's not just say it's. It's definitely really important freshman year. My friend group had a debate about whether you tap the roof like once or twice. When you're passing the gate and then also if it's at when the front of the car passes the gate, or if it's the middle of the car when you tap the roof. So yeah, it's it. It is serious, but yes, the the angels there, they're out there protecting us.
Well, and then I'm so glad that somebody mentioned the passing hello too, because that's actually my favorite tradition. I grew up in a, you know, relatively small town where I felt like everybody you know knew each other and I was so charmed when I came to Swanee for the first time as a perspective student and everybody said hello and was really chatty and nice. And at first it was kind of disarming. Like am I supposed to know you?
And then I just realized that everybody is incredibly friendly, so the passing hello is basically we speak to the people that we pass by. And you know, I really feel like as you're walking around campus, you rarely see students like with their heads buried in their cell phones or things like that. People are really excited to be a part of the campus community and engage. And actually, this is from my experience. But if there are any Swanee alums also tuning in with their students, you may remember.
But there was a time at Swanee where if you were on your cell phone outside walking around, you would have somebody scream at you. Saved Swanee and you'd be really embarrassed and have to like put it away in your backpack. So I don't think that's a thing anymore, but I think of that when I think of the passing hello. So alright enough about me moving on, so there is another question too about class dress that was touched on like a little bit because y'all talk a little bit about kind of like your.
Understanding and kind of experience with what class stress is and means.
Sure, I love class stress. Personally, I know that's a touchy for some people, but back in the 50s it was kind of expected that like men would wear suits to class and women would wear their pretty dresses and everyone would wear their gown all of the time, which is great. This tradition is on the decline, but pretty much we have that dress for the job you want, not the job. You have mentality and.
Just something that says I'm going to get up and not wear pajamas to class today to show respect for yourself and your education, but also for your professors and peers to say. Even if it's jeans and AT shirt. That's totally fine, but we just don't wear pajamas, you know?
Yeah, I think with the idea of class stress, it's really getting ready for class. Aside from like doing your assignments and doing your readings like you are there to show up and participate and be part of the community. And when you're in that headspace, like psychologically, you're gonna do better too. And so I think there are a lot of benefits.
That come with it now as a student in our science is, I can say that we are much less, you know, really strict about the class dress. You know, some people, they're adamant about their khakis and their tucked in polos everyday. And that's great. And then you'll see others that are just a little bit more casual. But then you have other professors that would really encourage it. And I think part of that also with the gown, I think traditionally.
It's it's accepted to wear it for big presentations exams. The first day of class as well. Those are the big three where you'll see people walking around with this aside from tours.
Yeah, absolutely OK. Thank you. I think it's a misconception that it is like an actual dress code and more of a tradition which I know I. I was relieved to find out when I finally got to Swanee. I still felt like very relaxed during the four years that I was there so.
Hey so switching gears again have some questions about Greek life and I don't. I'm not actually sure. Are either of y'all involved in Greek life at Swanee?
Graham
06:38:39 PM
Tell us about Greek life
Uh, no. I currently am not, but I I used to be in an organization.
OK, do you have friends? Kind of who have been in Greek life or would it? What are your kind of like general experiences with Greek life on campus? I think there's a little bit of a misconception that maybe, like all of our students are involved in Greek life. And clearly that's not the case, so.
I mean, Amanda, if you have any thoughts or Matthew you know kind of like what's that experience like on campus, even you know, sort of from the outside.
Yeah, sure, I think the percentage is somewhere around 60% of our students. Correct me. Yeah, that are in Greek life. So that is like relatively a pretty big percentage and I think a lot of that just comes from.
Rex
06:39:31 PM
Do people live in fraternity and sorority houses?
We have an open door policy which means that any student on campus, Greek or not, can walk into a sorority or fraternity event, and no one blinks an eye over it. They're welcome, they're invited, and I think that helps a lot with transparency, but also just with a more welcoming environment. So I'll go hang out with my friends. There's one fraternity that has a ping pong table and we steal it all the time. We just go there and play ping pong.
But yeah, that's pretty much my experience with Greek life. They also host events, and one of my friends is doing a can and aluminum can drive right now for Saint Judes, so it's good to see them. You know, giving back a little bit.
Yeah, I will say they definitely have their own philanthropy, and you know, just a good community within themselves. But one thing I've noticed is that just because someone is in a certain Greek organization does not forbid them or **** ****.
Emma
06:41:01 PM
i have an emotional support animal, do you know anyone with one? i'm wondering if her coming with me would be a burden
It's like it's it's really like another club. You know it's not a social determinant for anyone. I've got friends and all different fraternities. It'll just great because then I have so many options for places to hangout, people to grab food with, and all of that. And so yeah, we people, I do see a question here too. If people live in fraternity and sorority houses, the answer is yes. For most of them that have houses or certain.
Nancy York
06:41:09 PM
Hi Emma, The University of the South complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in allowing the use of service animals by students, staff, faculty and visitors while on campus. The University also complies with the Fair Housing Act in allowing students the use of support animals that are approved as an accommodation in student residence. Consistent with its obligations under the Tennessee Fair Housing Act (FHA), students may request to bring a support animal as a disability accommodation.
Not apartments, townhouses. People do live in there but again it's it's just another thing you're part of. It doesn't define you when you're here.
And you're not left out because you're not part of it.
Yeah, well and that makes three of us. 'cause I was not Greek at Suwannee either so but I mean like you said I love the fact that it's an incredibly inclusive space and many of many of my friends were in Greek organizations and they still got to participate in a lot of the functions through those organizations. So thank you both for that.
Stevens
06:41:39 PM
Are there fitness centers/gyms available for all students? And is Sewanee runner-friendly?
Alright, OK, so thinking about like other things to do on campus.
We have the Fowler Center and we have a brand new Wellness Commons too.
Can you talk a little bit about kind of like fitness at celani or places to workout or exercise and things like that?
Yeah definitely, especially because I do club sports so not any of our D3 varsity teams, but I've worked with our crew team with rowing.
I dance on our perpetual motion dance team and I am also on the fencing team. One of my favorite English professors is like a maestro and he'll just top around with this award and it's really cute leading classes on that and we will work both at the Fowler Center, which is more geared toward team athletics like the bigger group aspect. But if you don't want the entire men's cross country team like running.
At you all of the time, we now have our cute little Wellness Commons, which is a nice like smaller outlet geared more towards the individual and their athleticism. And so I'll go there if, like my friend and I are doing a partner dance, so we'll go book out one of their studios and dance in there. They also have some student LED classes. I've heard the spin class. The cycling one is a big hit. I went once and my bum really hurts so I didn't go again.
But a great opportunity to hang on there as well, and that also has our mini clinic and caps, which is counseling and psychological services as well, so they're accessible through that building.
Yeah, I'd like to say that even though you know the sports teams tend to go to Fowler, everyone is still welcome there. I know a couple of weeks ago my friends and I went to play volleyball. We just set up a net and then we're just, you know, doing a little scrimmage against ourselves. We none of us are on any of the teams and we just wanted to have fun and so you can always rent something out and and do that.
Annalise
06:43:58 PM
What kind of study abroad opportunities are available?
Nancy York
06:44:01 PM
Hi Annalise, Our students study abroad all over the world! You can learn more here: https://new.sewanee.edu/offices/university-offices/office-of-global-citizenship/study-abroad/
And then fit well as well. It has the treadmills, the rowing machines, all the cardio you can imagine indoors and then the weight section on the other side and then if you really need to, there's a bookstore at the other side too so you can do what you need to. And I personally like to run and for me I think it gets really monotonous trying to run on a treadmill and so I like to run outside and we have a lot of great.
Peaks and overlooks to go to, and. So if I'm feeling up for it, I'm from Smith Hall, just running all the way down to Morgan steep, and then run past some.
Dorm halls and then keep going until I go past fell or run back home or I'll run to the cross and run back. And so this morning is a great place for indoor or outdoor activity I think. And there's also like like chest in like they make people not too many swimming there but everyone has fun just.
Taking advantage of the natural space that we have in our 13,000 acres.
Stevens
06:45:03 PM
Matthew, can you talk about the choir(s) at Sewanee? I heard you mention you’re a tenor.
Awesome, well and Matthew. We've got a specific question for you if that's OK, so someone is interested in learning a little bit more about.
Choir at Swanee. They've heard you're a tenor.
Annalise
06:45:45 PM
Is there an orchestra? How easy is it to participate in the theatre performances?
Yes yes, so I have actually been part of both of our choirs here at the university. I started in the university choir which sings in All Saints every Sunday and they wear the red and the white outfits and that was really interesting. 'cause I really never sang before. I got to this point and I just thought you know 'cause I originally played the cello and I was like I don't wanna carry that big thing around with me. You know, I was jealous of singers because.
I could just practice anywhere and so I I wanted to do that, and so I auditioned and I got in. And then, you know, from then on it was just reading the sheet music playing or singing with a group of people in your same voice range, but also the entire choir, which is like I don't even know what nowadays like 6070 people. And they're all just getting together, making music that way and then.
On the flip side, you also have the University Gospel Choir, we call it Swanee praise and they wear the purple and black outfits and and they sing, you know, just different music. More gospel music, less Anglican, and just keep alien, and so either one will actually give you one credit on your transcript because it is a class that you do for a certain amount of hours every week, and so it's a great GPA boost.
But also it's a great time to just.
Have fun singing, you know.
Well, and I've got to say too. I mean, it is always a treat when you go to All Saints on Sundays and get to hear you know the university choir or go to a gospel choir. Performance on campus. I mean just outrageously good.
Emma
06:47:10 PM
do either of you do theatre? i'm not a theatre major but i would love to possibly be involved in some productions. is that common?
And so we've had a question too about theater at Celani is thinking about kind of the arts as well. I'm not sure if y'all are involved in theater on campus, but I know that one of my favorite things as a student about Tony Theater program was that you don't have to be a theater major to audition for, you know, like plays and productions on campus. If y'all haven't been involved, have you been to a play or have you had a friend who's been involved in Swanee theater?
I love this Lonnie theater. I go to almost all of their performances. One my my roommate is a visual art major as well and so they put on us some shows and have like art exhibits every now and again as well. So the arts are pretty pretty good here. But you did mention you don't have to be a theater major and I think that's very true. Most of our like I wouldn't say theater is our most popular major.
But that opens up the opportunities for more beginner geared productions and we did have hamlette recently, which was a pretty big deal here on campus. And of course that was very intense. But then we do have some smaller plays, something called dynamics and I didn't dance before I came here at all. This semester is my first time dancing, but I auditioned and they were like hey join this beginner dance.
And so now I'm getting to experience all of those new opportunities, even though it's not in my field of study or anything. And same goes for orchestra. They have classes for beginners and then you can also join the orchestra once you can carry a tune with whatever instrument you want. They have different levels for those as well.
But I'm I think for theater I definitely have a couple friends that are part of the department and they've got, you know, the costume design part in the.
Play writing part and then the performance and dance section so you can get a wide variety in there. Actually last year in the spring I was part of our production of oh gosh so bad. I don't remember it's called men on boats. Yes and I was just there. I was like listen I don't have a lot of time but I wanna try it. So I was a featured actor and it was fun. So like Amanda said it's open to everyone to try.
Even if you're a beginner, they are ready to take everyone you know come one come all I got so we're really great. Great costume and you know to get a part of that side of Swanee there are so many sides of Swanee like 13,000 acres is a great way to say how big it is. But when you think about what people actually experience and study on a day today it's just so crazy. And then the I made a lot of friends.
Through that and one of them actually for our most recent production, I think it was the revolutionists. They were like an assistant director, like a student director for that. And so there are ways that you can move up with in there. It really speaks to you. Then there will be many leadership opportunities for sure.
Fantastic thank you guys.
Mara
06:50:54 PM
Can you tell us a little about the university farm? Do students work there?
Hannah
06:51:01 PM
Can you talk a little bit more about the farm?
OK, we have so many questions coming in and I want us to be able to get to all of them, but I got a couple people asking about the University Farm and I know we've just briefly touched on it. Have either of y'all done any work at the farm or have any kind of like fun anecdotes about farm life at Suwannee?
I personally, oh sorry God.
Just the goats. That's it.
Tell tell us about the Swanee goats.
Oh my goodness, so we have a pretty large university farm and Herb garden where our dining hall uses quite a good many of those herbs.
And also does research projects on sustainability and what not, but easily the best part of the farm are the university goats and I don't know how many we have, but I do know that.
They have this little fence that you're encouraged to jump to. Go play with the goats and pet the goats. Don't feed the goats though. They'll try to eat your hair. Don't let them, but those are kind of like my emotional support animal. Whenever I'm having a bad day, I'll be like going to go take a walk for my mental health down to the farm and pet a goat and it's great.
Aiden
06:52:21 PM
can you please tell us about the summer program for the incoming freshmen
So I don't have too much personal experience with the farm, but my roommate last year actually worked and still works at the farm and so he would tell me all about the goats. I remember one time I visited and he was like, Oh my gosh, one was just born, don't touch it. 'cause my mom won't recognize it and I was like oh wow learning so much about animals out here. But yes, it's true. I know like they.
Have all a lot of the produce that we eat in Mcclurg, and so you know exactly where your food is come from coming from, and it's really great you know.
It's Caroline, I think she's in charge of the OR Carolyn. There is. Carolyn Hoagland is in charge of the farm and sometimes you'll see in like the Student post office. They've gotten to flowers and bouquets that you can Venmo her. You know, just pick one up and send the money, and then you've got a cool little plant and your windowsill in your dorm. And and they just provide a lot of what we eat in the area. And so it's a really cool place you can visit.
Whenever you want, I know some people like randomly if they need a break for studying, they'll just go see the goats walk past the farm, see what's going on. A lot of the time they're washing lettuce or harvesting it. I know my my roommate would tell me about that all the time and how hands were cold. I'm going to wash all of it, but yes, there's always a lot going on there, and you know, students do work there as well.
Yeah, well, and I'm curious too, like shifting gears. Did either reveal participate in Fyp or pre?
As incoming students. OK so we have a question about our two programs for incoming first year students.
So basically these are two amazing programs. They're a little bit different, so our pre program which is pre orientation is an outdoor adventure program essentially so students get to come to campus a couple days before orientation and explore the domain through like hiking, biking, mountain biking, rock climbing, swimming, heading out to Lake Dimmick to go like you know canoeing or things like that, but basically getting to know celani, kind of like through the lens of exploring the domain.
You get a pre family that you actually will kind of like. Consider your pre family for your entire time at Suwannee. So you have pre brothers and sisters that are your fellow first year students and then you have a pre mom and dad too and your pre small group and you kind of stick with them during those couple of days while you're camping and hanging out around Swanee and then so finding your place another one of our first year programs is designed to also help Orient you to the domain but through a police based.
Learning lens, so you'll get to choose from a variety of different classes from a number of different departments, whether it's history, music, religion, anthropology, all different sorts of things, and you learn about that subject through the lens of the landscape and the domain in and around Swanee. So an incredible way to really kind of get your hands dirty and explore the place here and be living for four years and get to learn about a subject really interested in one of the really great things about FYP 2 is that your condensing almost an entire class.
Worth of work into, just like a week and a half experience, so you're taking one of your first semester classes during that period of time and you'll still meet throughout the majority of the rest of this semester. Generally once a week, as you kind of like work on a capstone project, but the majority of that class is taken during that time, so that really frees you up to then just focus on your other three classes during that first semester so you really can't go wrong. Either way, we did not have fyp when I was a student.
We did have pre. I did not participate. I deeply regretted it for four years, so I would highly encourage either one.
They're they're great program, so good question.
Livvy
06:56:18 PM
Hi everyone, could you please talk about the Sewanee Purple or any other student-run media?
Alright, so let's see here. Sorry I got to talking and then didn't. Oh OK so.
Thinking about kind of like where you get your Swanee news, I loved it. The Swanee purple and now it has like an online edition two and a social media presence. Have y'all either of y'all ever written for the purple or can you tell us a little bit about kind of the purple and its place on campus?
We have quite a few. I feel like a new student newspaper pops up every year. Last year we had the Swanee Spectre, which was a political magazine here on campus. But then we have.
Things like the Mountain Goat Journal that I've submitted to that are literary base where you publish stories, poetry, fiction, nonfiction, etc. And that's a great opportunity just to get your foot in the door and get published at the Swanee. Purple is our main student journal going on here at the university, and they'll cover anything from like minimum wage issues to fund events that have happened on campus and to see that whole spectrum of things.
Livvy
06:57:27 PM
Can you tell us about the Sewanee Purple?
Nyssa
06:57:32 PM
When do we have to give an admission decision by?
That are being taken into account by our students and that are also accessible online now has really helped 'cause people will like repost it on social media and then you really know what's going on on campus. So there's a lot of awareness going on with that.
OK, fantastic, thank you well and it is fun. I mean, Sewanee has like an incredible literary tradition and so I think like writing and things like that is definitely like very much embedded in our campus culture in general. So it is not surprising to me at all that there is a new student like news outlet or resource popping up all of the time.
So I mean, we've gotten a couple of questions about this in the chat and you and I had talked prior to this a little bit about the Roberson project. Would you mind just sharing briefly? I know we are running out of time, but a little bit about kind of the rivers and project and and kind of you know what it's places on campus right now and what it's meant for the community.
Yeah, definitely. The Roberson project is our initiative for racial equality here on campus, and they've taken multiple different steps from just editing, rhetoric and language in some of our old laws that were potentially problematic. Right now, they're doing a really interesting ground penetration program.
Nancy York
06:58:55 PM
Hi Nyssa, every student must let us know whether or not you plan to attend Sewanee by May 1.
In our cemetery where they're trying to mark the unmarked graves of African Americans who were buried without that label, so I'm enjoying that.
Nyssa
06:59:23 PM
Is there a pharmacy and nurse/doctor on campus?
Well and OK, so it's 759 and I want to be respectful of everyone time. But we have also had a couple of questions about pre health at Suwanee. Matthew, would you be willing to kind of quickly share a little bit about kind of your experiences with?
Prehealth at Swanee and our health program.
Sure, so all of our health programs fall under the Office of Medical and Health Programs we have.
Aiden
07:00:10 PM
When are the housing questionaires coming out?
All sorts of tracks the pharmacy, medical that nursing physicians assistant and pre public health here and ways to get involved. We have this morning health professional society or ships and then the Swanee Multicultural Health Society. They both kind of get pre health students into these groups that really look at what is going on in medicine.
Nancy York
07:00:27 PM
Hi Aiden, that form will be available later this spring/early summer.
Pre health focus base. So you have subgroups based on like if you're doing nursing or better medicine and then with as I mentioned it looks more at you know racial disparities and also.
What is prevalent in the world in news of medicine there?
And then also I have to plug our pre health tutoring program. You know we have a lot of really capable students and we want to keep having capable students of succeeding in sciences. And so we have that going on. They have medical internships in the area. We have three local clinics about up to 45 minutes away and that's a great way for a lot of students to get some shadowing in get some experience while they're studying here in summer.
Uh, during their semesters. I've done it since my second semester, sophomore year, and so yes, there are a lot of ways to get supported. They do medical committee letters here, and you can always schedule an appointment with the pre health office if you have any questions or need any guidance. I actually just got an email today from one of the advising professors Professor Grey and she was like, hey, let's let's talk about your gap year plans.
So yeah, there there is a lot of support for pre health students here. Oh in dental I forgot predental.
Fabulous, well and one of the things that I love about. I mean Swanee and liberal arts institutions in general is that you get to pursue these pre professional programs and pair that with really like any person study. So it's nice to have that flexibility to pursue like a wide variety of things too. So thank you. Alright so I know that we are at time. I will just ask each of you one more quick question if that's OK.
And that if you had to kind of like narrowed down your favorite thing about your swan experience thus far, and I know this is not an easy question, what would that be like? What's one thing that you would love to leave students with tonight? As far as like your favorite thing about Suwannee?
Yeah, I was gonna say I can take this first. I think what I really appreciate about my time at Swanee is that you can make it whatever you want it to be.
Ways that we are encouraged to be leaders to make things happen on.
Jack
07:03:12 PM
do students form their own bands and have opportunities to play for audiences?
On campus and within the university that you will find people that you enjoy spending time with and then you will.
If there isn't something that beta club or some kind of interest that you have that you are not.
Nancy York
07:03:31 PM
Yes, Sewanee students perform on campus all of the time!
What you wanna do? And you don't quite see it or you wanna do it. There is a way to get through that you can get a budget to make a club. I know for me, Nancy talks about this. How you can kind of mix different experiences like I'm doing pre health and biochemistry but I'm also doing Spanish. I'm like who would have thought why would I do that and so just mixing all of my interests. I you know was like. Well our Spanish department doesn't have enough.
Annalise
07:03:56 PM
How integrated is the church with the college? Are there regular Sunday services?
To talk about when it comes to, let's say, the history of colonization and the influence outside of like Latin America and being Filipino like let's do it. So I was able to make an independent study and you get that connection with your professors. So I think again you just make whatever you want. You'll find the connections and the people who are genuinely interested in building out with you and then you can take that forever.
If I had to simmer it down and I think Matthew did an excellent job and touched on some of this, but to a single image it would probably be.
Coffee with your professor. I just think that's such an an interesting thing that Swami does where our students build those close personal relationships with their professors, so that if I have a paper or a piece that I want to get published, I go to one of my English professors and I say, hey, read this for me. Or sometimes I just go bother them about like Gilmore Girls. You know, it doesn't matter, they're there for you whether it's.
Nancy York
07:05:15 PM
Sewanee's Episcopal tradition is at the heart of our community, but we are a diverse and welcoming community with lots of religious diversity on campus. There are several services in All Saints' Chapel held each week and a variety of other opportunities for student worship on and off campus.
In class or out of class, and I've really, really appreciated that. Like for example, this year I don't have a car and they've like my professors know and they'll offer to get groceries for me when I go and I just I wouldn't trade that experience for the world because they have meant a lot to me here. And that was really formative to my Sony experience.
I think relationships is like an echoing theme that you know you will hear from all Sewanee alumni and how you know the relationships that you form carry.
Well beyond the gates of the mountain, even after you've tapped that, you know gate for the last time after you graduate or tap the roof of your car as you pass through the gates for the last time.
The relationships are incredibly transformative, and you know, for those of you who are watching, I imagine that you will meet a slime person or meet someone who knows. It's Lonnie almost everywhere that you go, so this relationships are incredibly important to us, and I want to thank you all for joining us tonight. I know that there are some questions that we didn't get to answer. I have taken a screencap of all of them and I will follow up with you via email.
Nancy York
07:06:31 PM
nancy.york@sewanee.edu
Please feel free to use the link here as well to chat with a current student if you have additional questions, or you can head to our admission website. I will also chat in my email address as well so if you have questions that you'd like to reach out to me about that you didn't have a chance to ask tonight, please feel free to do so. And Amanda and Matthew thank you so so much for joining us and for sharing your swaney stories.
We really appreciate it and I hope you all have a wonderful night.
Thanks so much guys, bye.
Livvy
07:09:35 PM
Thank you so much everyone!!!
Nick
07:09:36 PM
Thank you!!
Graham
07:09:37 PM
Thank all of you.
Izzy
07:09:38 PM
thanks so much
William
07:09:39 PM
Thank you!
Alice
07:09:40 PM
Thank You!
Alice
07:10:07 PM
Thank you so much for your introduction and time! Have a nice evening!