Hamilton College Admission Journals: Isaac Handley-Miner

The end of an era

Mon, 21 May 2012 21:23:07 GMT

Finals ended Friday, May 11. The next day most of my close friends left for home. I had to stick around for the following week to be trained as an Adirondack Adventure leader. Around noon on Saturday my roommate took off. I was sad to see him go, but I didn’t anticipate how hard it would be to come back to a half empty room.

Returning to my dorm and seeing his side of the room stripped of posters, books, dirty clothes, and his unique collection of useless trinkets and paraphernalia was a bit heartbreaking. I became very nostalgic about all the time I had spent with my friends in that room. It didn’t seem right that it should now be completely bare on one side. The lack of my roommate’s things bothered me, but not as much as the lack of the one thing I always looked forward to seeing when I got back there—him.

The end of the semester always feels like the end of an era. I suppose it is the end of an era in a way, but it’s not like I’ll never see my friends again. I’m sure I’ll meet up with some of them over the summer, and then the rest will be knocking on my door three months down the road. But there’s a particular irrational sadness that comes from the whole process of moving out, saying goodbye, and driving away. Except this year I wasn’t the one moving out and driving away. I was just the one saying goodbye to each of my friends as they took off for the summer. I still had another week before I could go home.

Needless to say, I was feeling a little sorry for myself on Saturday afternoon. I missed my friends, I wanted to go home, and I didn’t know what to expect for the Adirondack Adventure training. But then I ended up having one of the best weeks of my college career.

Training was a blast; it was a week of camping, canoeing, games, learning, and bonding. All the other new and old leaders that came to training are such great people. A few I already knew really well, some I kind of new, and the rest I had never met before. But after the first couple days, none of that mattered; I felt close with all of them.

Training was certainly challenging at points, but having the opportunity to bond with a large group of dynamic, outgoing, entertaining, spunky, and genuinely nice people made it such a rewarding experience. It’s usually hard to notice yourself maturing, but over that week I could actually feel myself growing and abandoning a lot of my immaturities (and embracing some—that’s where the games come in).

Now training is over, I’m back at my house writing this entry with a very warm cat curled up on my lap. I miss Hamilton and the people that make it the only other place I feel comfortable calling ‘home.’ I’m looking forward to the summer, and all the adventures and good times it will bring; but I can’t wait until that day in August when I come back to campus early for Adirondack Adventure and hopefully get the chance to meet some of you guys.

For those of you who will be coming to Hamilton in the fall, get stoked. This place will change your life.

One down, one to go

Wed, 09 May 2012 22:53:27 GMT

One down, one to go.

Finals week is here. I feel like I just got back from spring break, but somehow we’re already at the end of the semester. If you visited Hamilton this week, you would see a lot of distress, jubilation, confusion, exhaustion, excitement, frustration and a mountain of empty coffee cups. Or maybe that’s just what you would see if you visited my room.

I had my first exam today—in Macroeconomic Theory—which leaves me with one more on Friday. The Macrotheory test certainly wasn’t easy, but I’m glad to have it off my chest. Time to start studying some Economic Statistics! Aren’t you jealous?

I had to hand in an Arabic paper this morning, which I got out of the way earlier this week so I would have time to study for econ. When I dropped off my paper in my professor’s office, she had set out cookies, veggies, hummus, and other delightful treats for everyone. Last semester my econ professor brought milk and cookies to our final exam review session. It’s those little gestures that make a huge difference when you’re stressed out.

A tour walked by today while I was studying in KJ (the Kirner Johnson building) and I couldn’t help think what an interesting perception they will have of Hamilton. I saw the prospective students and their parents, then glanced around me and tried to look at the scene from their perspective. Students were packed around all the available chairs and tables; some looked like they just woke up (this was around lunchtime), some clearly hadn’t gone to bed yet (the tell-tale sign is a graveyard of 5-hour energies and candy wrappers), and some were passed out (in every position imaginable). Notes and papers littered every flat surface and articles of clothing dotted the floor like polka dots. People were perched on ledges, staircases, and windowsills alike. It looked like either a crack-den or an occupy KJ movement.*

*Some of these descriptions may be slight exaggerations.

Class and Charter Day

Sat, 05 May 2012 21:04:23 GMT

Every spring on the last day of classes the Hamilton community celebrates Class and Charter Day. All afternoon classes are cancelled, there is an awards ceremony for students and faculty, there is a big picnic lunch, and then around mid afternoon there’s a huge concert open to the community.

Yesterday marked Hamilton’s 62nd Class and Charter Day. I am fortunate enough not to have class on Friday mornings, but I still got up rather early because I had a couple things to do before the festivities began. Around noon, after getting my stuff done and visiting a few friends, I put on a shirt and tie and headed over to the awards ceremony.

A bunch of students and faculty (many of whom I knew) received some great achievement and involvement awards. One of the seniors I work with at the writing center won the Soper Merrill Prize, the most prestigious award a student can win at Hamilton. The winner of the Soper Merrill Prize is awarded a gold watch and gives a speech at graduation.

When the ceremony was over, I dropped by the all-campus picnic before meeting up with friends and heading to the concert. Every year Student Activities tries to bring a big-name headliner for the Class and Charter Day concert. Last year Sam Adams came and the year before that we had Passion Pit. This year Chiddy Bang was supposed to come, but he had to cancel. Fortunately, we were able to book Super Mash Bros, who put on an excellent show.

Class and Charter Day was a long day of eating, dancing, partying, and celebrating the end of the academic year. I had a spectacular time, but I can’t pretend I’m not a little sad about the year coming to an end; I’m going to miss Hamilton over the summer.

Econ Department Dinner

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:18:26 GMT

Last night the econ department held an informal dinner for all econ majors. They bought a bunch of Lebanese food from a local restaurant called the Phoenician (one of my favorite restaurants in the area). The food was great, as expected. There was hummus, tabouli, lamb, chicken, falafel, pita, and much more. I sampled everything, but the hummus was definitely my favorite.

In addition to the wonderful food, it was really nice to interact with my econ professors in a relaxed, nonacademic setting. I sat next to my econ statistics professor and we talked about my interest in behavioral economics and my plans for studying abroad. In class it’s clear that he’s a really nice, funny guy but I hadn’t interacted with him much outside of class before last night. But as I talked to him between mouthfuls of hummus and falafel I realized what a genuinely thoughtful and fascinating character he is. I really hope I get to have more conversations with him before the semester ends. It always strikes me how down to earth Hamilton professors are.

Talking with my professor reminded me how lucky I am to go to a school like this. I think it’s invaluable to form relationships with faculty, administrators, and staff. I didn’t do a very good job of seeking out these friendships last year, but the awesome thing about a small liberal arts school is that those bonds form whether or not you’re actively looking for them.

Housing Lottery

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 19:58:52 GMT

Housing for upperclassmen is decided using a lottery system. All students are randomly assigned a number, and then on the day of the lottery everyone gathers in the Barn (if you’ve been on campus, the Barn is that circular yellow building). When your number is called, you go into a room with all the floor plans and you pick your room.

They break the lottery down by class year: the senior lottery is first, followed by the junior lottery, and then finally the sophomore lottery. People with better numbers are allowed to “pull” their friends into a room with them. So let’s say I know someone in the senior lottery who has number 57, he can pull me into his room, even though my number is much worse. And that’s exactly what happened this morning.

The Root Farmhouse, generally just referred to as the Farmhouse, is one of the most desirable living options on campus. From the outside it looks like a big yellow house, but the inside is divided into three sections. Usually, these three sections are taken after the first dozen or so numbers in the senior lottery. But somehow there was still one section of it left by number 57, and so we snagged it.

Our section of the Farmhouse has three doubles. Downstairs there is a large living room area, a kitchen, and one double. Upstairs there’s a bathroom and the other two doubles. The Farmhouse also has a nice wraparound porch. As if all that wasn’t enough, it is literally in the perfect location. It’s right in the center of campus, and very close to the diner and the main dining hall. I can’t tell you how excited I am to live there next year.

Since we didn’t expect to be able to get the Farmhouse, we planned on living in a quad somewhere. So when we realized that we could actually get the Farmhouse, we had to find two other people to live with us. We quickly called two of our friends, Sam and Jordan, and told them to get to the Barn ASAP.

After we called them, one of the people working at the lottery told us that the other two people living with us would have to be girls in order to maintain the gender ratio in the Farmhouse. So I texted Sam and told him that they wouldn’t be able to live with us after all. I felt bad, especially since we had just made Jordan and Sam literally sprint all the way to the Barn.

A couple of hours later I was doing some homework and my friend comes in and shows me a tweet from someone at the lottery. It was a picture of Jordan looking completely disheveled, standing in the middle of the crowd of students at the lottery wearing nothing except a pair of shorts and slippers. The tweet read, “That awkward moment when someone shows up to the housing lottery shirtless and frantic.”

Yep, that’s Jordan for you.