Seniors reflect on their quintessential Centre experience

RELEASED: May 15, 2008

DANVILLE, KY—Classes have ended, papers have been turned in and final exams are almost graded, but the Centre experience lives on in the memories of the Class of 2008. Many students carry with them a particular moment that defined their Centre experience, whether it's academic, social or a blend of both. Below four seniors share a particular moment that was uniquely Centre.

Sean Chandler: If I could remark on one experience that best reflects my Centre experience as a whole, I think it would have to be when I was temporarily a roommate with Dr. Rick Axtell, Associate Professor of Religion and College Chaplain, during a homestay in Nicaragua. We spent most of the evening listening to a band called Megadeth with our host family's eldest son. (To this day I maintain that there is no better bonding experience than a little thrash metal among friends.) That night, still jolted from a night of casual head banging, we chatted about how surreal it was for a professor and his student to be in Nicaragua listening to an American heavy metal band with the natives…and somehow it was all part of the class.

Leslie Hast: One of my favorite Centre memories is traveling to Massachusetts in search of Emily Dickinson with my English senior seminar class. It was seven girls and Dr. Dan Manheim, H.W. Stodghill, Jr. and Adele Stodghill Professor of English, for four days in a big white van, which turned out to be quite an adventure. Between long stretches completely lost on the scenic route (although Dr. Manheim would never admit that), we read Thoreau at Walden Pond, tracked dinosaurs, toured every cemetery we passed, climbed trees and ate cannoli. But the true purpose of the trip—touring the places where Dickinson lived and wrote to get a deeper insight—was a definite success. Seeing Emily's original manuscripts and a lock of her hair completely changed my perspective on her personality and her poetry.

Meredith Booth: One of the greatest afternoons in my four years at Centre was a Saturday earlier this term when we had about six inches of snow. I decided to stay inside while two of my friends went out to build a snowman. It wasn't long before two of our other friends drove by and stopped to join them. Eventually they got bored and attacked the Phi Delt fraternity house, and a huge snowball fight broke out. When my window was hit by a clump of wet snow, I knew I had to join. For the next two-and-a-half hours we all hurled snowballs at one another and any other "bogies" that "entered the war zone!" I laughed harder every time I was thrown into the snow or tried to hit someone else. It was one of those perfect afternoons that I will always think of as quintessentially Centre.

Kyle Longton: I was in an upper-level Latin class of three students. We were supposed to have our final exam in the evening from 7 to 10. Instead, Dr. Jane Joyce, Charles J. Luellen Professor of Literature, invited us over to her house at 5 p.m. We took our test for an hour while she cooked. Then the four of us sat down to a four-course dinner that was a modern American version of a meal described in a passage we had translated earlier in the year. It was quintessential Centre.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

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