Hamilton College Admission Journals: Cooper Creagan

Old and New

Tue, 24 May 2011 17:22:11 GMT

Follow this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBK2hVyl9xA

This entry's Shout Out goes to Will Rusche, for helping me with this video!

Move Out Day

Sat, 14 May 2011 16:28:10 GMT

The day has finally come, and everybody's going home for the summer. As I'm typing this, cars line the outside of my dorm as all of the freshmen pack up their stuff and get ready to go home. It's actually strangely reminiscent of the first week of school. In the fall, all the parents showed up, dropped off their kids, and we welcomed them all to Hamilton with orientation week. Now, all the parents show up, pick up their kids, and we say goodbye to the seniors with senior week. It's all come full-circle in a trite, faux-poetic kind of way.

This move out day is a relatively sad one for me because all of my friends are going abroad in the fall. Well, that's not entirely true - my girlfriend Meghan isn't leaving until the spring, for example. But I've already had to say "see you in January" to one friend and "see you next August" to two others. And that's not this August, you guys. That's August of 2012. The next summer Olympics will happen before I see my friends Luke and Justin again.

I'm... I'm making myself pretty sad, actually.

Fortunately, we've still got a whole summer before they all get on planes to go to fancy and exotic locations. I know several of my friends are staying on campus this summer and since I only live a couple hours away, some visits will definitely be in order. My friend Amanda will be working for the Career Center, my friend Jess is helping create questions for next semester's Symbolic Logic course, and my friend Will and girlfriend Meghan are doing research with professors! Will is looking at the overlap between religion and environment, and Meghan is examining how medieval kings tried to emulate King Arthur. Pretty awesome stuff! And of course, I have to come back for the annual Boilermaker road race in Utica. I probably won't run as a chippendale this year, though.

Many of my friends are staying for senior week, too! Be they RAs, members of the choir, or in an a cappella group, it seems like most people I know are finding a way to stick around for just a bit longer. An entire week at Hamilton with none of the school work... maybe the best thing ever?

Until next time!

This entry's Shout Out goes to Luke's dad, for giving me a donut this morning. Thanks, Pastor Schwartz!

Eventful Week is Eventful

Fri, 06 May 2011 18:59:15 GMT

Today is the last day of classes, and though I probably should've spent this past week in the library preparing for all my finals, I was doing fun stuff instead!

Monday was the last day of my independent study with Russell Marcus. Though our meetings are only scheduled for an hour, we spent two hours talking about logic, and he invited Jess and me to his house for dinner! I thought this was especially kind of him, since Jess is gluten free and I'm a vegetarian, which is not always an easy combination. We'll probably also play Settlers of Catan, which I find both awesome and hilarious. I mean, where else can you play Settlers with your professor?

Anyway, that night I went to a pirate poetry reading, where students from the Intro. to Creative Writing class wrote poems about rum and scurvy curs and whatnot. I was actually so inspired that I wrote and read a poem on the spot. Also, Professor Hall brought her 3-year-old son and read a poem with him. Have you ever seen a 3-year-old in a pirate costume? It... it might have been the best thing ever, you guys.

Tuesday, my boss Noelle invited all the North Side RAs to her apartment for dinner! All the food was very delicious and it was also great to see my fellow staff members all in one place. And because all the Area Directors live on campus, Noelle's apartment was a 30 second walk from my dorm! Thanks again, Noelle! Immediately after ther dinner, I made my way to Wellin for a GIANT concert that the Hamilton College Choir and the Community Ontario Society put together. They played Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem, which is basically a 90-minute long chunk of musical epicness.

Moving on to Wednesday! All the RAs had one last meeting to talk about end-of-year stuff. Perk of being an RA: we get to stay for senior week! After that, we had a meeting for next year's staff to get to know each other. I couldn't help but think back to this time last year, when I had just been hired as an RA. I can't decide if I was more nervous last year, as a newbie with no experience, or this year, as a Head RA responsible for several new RAs. Either way, all the newcomers seemed really nice, and I'm already excited for next year! After these meetings, I had a reunion with my ASB (Alternative Spring Break) group. It was great to see all of them again and revive the old inside jokes.

Yesterday, I met with my Chinese class to watch a screening of our movies! A couple weeks ago, we split up into pairs to film funny 5-minute movies, entirely in Chinese. One of my classmates remarked on how strange it was that a year ago, we wouldn't have understood these movies at all. Yet here we are, 9 months and 500 characters later, making movies about Red Bull and penguin dream sequences and boy bands. The professors also provided us with delicious Chinese food and some very fancy looking chopsticks. They're so kind!

Which finally brings us to today: Class and Charter Day. There's an award ceremony (I won some stuff!), a concert, a sprint triathlon, and a picnic! Classes end early and everyone is out and enjoying the nice weather. Which is what I'm about to go do.

Until next time!

This entry's Shout Out goes to Russell Marcus, who won the John R. Hatch award for Excellence in Teaching. Congratulations!

Long Time, No See

Sun, 01 May 2011 02:40:08 GMT

11 days ago, I mentioned that I had a lot of work to do. I finally finished it all yesterday! Let's get caught up on what you've missed in the past couple weeks.

Last Friday, I went to the pub for an afternoon with English majors and professors. Once a month, the English and creative writing departments invite all the concentrators to the pub for a drink - or, if you're under 21, popcorn! I spent the afternoon talking with some creative writing concentrators who were finishing up their senior portfolios. I couldn't imagine writing tens of pages of short stories like they do, but when I told them that I would much rather write a thesis on Shakespeare, they looked at me like I was crazy. To each his own, I suppose. Also, Professor Hall and Professor Terrell both brought their toddlers to the pub. They were so adorable!

Speaking of meeting professors' families, Margie Thickstun invited our Milton class to her home for dinner this coming week. This is a great tradition at Hamilton and one that Margie always generously upholds. Come to think of it, she invited my freshman seminar to dinner, as well! Just more evidence that Margie is wonderful and you should all take a class with her.

Speaking of having dinner with professors, I once again made my way to the Chinese table last Tuesday. The table officially runs from 5:30 to 7:00, but we all stayed until Commons closed at 8:00. Among all the things we talked about, the professors also talked me into taking another two semesters of Chinese. They were very persuasive. I just couldn't say no to another year with some of my favorite professors!

Thursday, I went to the English honors thesis presentations. I never knew you could do so much analysis on Winnie the Poo, you guys! Another student did a thesis on the portrayal of Shylock in the Merchant of Venice, which interested me because, if you haven't noticed, I'm a pretty big Shakespeare fan. Anyway, it kind of made me excited to get started on my own thesis, even though it's still two years away. It was so apparent that these seniors have become experts of sorts, and I think understanding something that intimately is a pretty cool way to end one's college career.

That night, I went down to Wertimer House, the dorm I lived in freshman year, to spend the night on the common room floor. You see, a bunch of friends and I were going to wake up early for the royal wedding, and Wertimer has a 54" TV. We spent most of the night pretending to do work, got three hours of sleep, and then had scones in the morning and watched the sun rise as the television announcers marvelled over the way Kate Middleton wore her hair. I wouldn't have traded that morning for anything in the world.

Throughout the rest of the day, I met with three professors in office hours and a writing center tutor, all of whom were terribly patient with me even though it was painfully apparent that I was running on three hours of sleep. People at Hamilton are so nice, you guys!

Phew! Now we're all caught up. Until next time!

This entry's Shout Out goes to Allie Kerper `15. Thanks for reading, and see you on the Hill!

Hello, Accepted Students!

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 03:20:01 GMT

So, this past weekend we've been flooded with accepted students here on the Hill. If you're one of them, hello!

So, this is going to be a relatively short entry because I've got all sorts of exams and papers to worry about (aren't you just so excited for college?!?!). But I just wanted to say hello to all of you folks deciding whether or not to join us on the Hill for four years of awesome fun times.

First of all, thanks for stopping by! Or if you didn't come to the Hill recently, thanks for reading this entry! I always love this time of year because I get to gush about Hamilton, which is among my favorite things to do. But again, time is short over here in Oh-My-Goodness-Look-At-All-That-Work Land, so instead of trying to mention everything I love about Hamilton in one entry, I'll just direct you to all the other entries I've written. People tell me they're fun to read, so maybe you'll like them, too?

And as I walk about, meeting different prospective students, I notice that you all have lots of questions. So if you have a burning question to which you're just dying to know the answer, feel free to e-mail me at ccreagan@hamilton.edu. It's a win-win: you learn more about Hamilton, and I get a fun way to procrastinate!

Anyhow, that's all the time I've got for now. Hope to see you in August!

This entry's Shout Out goes to Liz DaBramo, the third Geneseo student in a row to get accepted into Hamilton. Way to keep the legacy going!