Welcome To Camp Colgate

   After three months of summer exile the men and women of Colgate University migrate to the town of Hamilton, New York. They follow the rigid social practices of “suns out guns out” and front yard Frisbee. Sleeping arrangements are sex-segregated, while co-ed activites often take place at the mess hall or during planned social gatherings. Clubs and groups begin to form and there is a collective desire to barbeque at least once a week. Promotional tee shirts are tie-dyed and worn with pride. Means of transportation vary from taking a sunny stroll, bike cruising and riding in a drop top. Living in complete isolation among the rolling green hills and golden foliage of upstate New York.

Your parents dropped you off and drove away. You unpacked then added memory foam and a fitted sheet to a creeky wooden bed frame. For the next eight weeks, this is Camp Colgate.

Warm weather, outdoor activities and the “no work and all play” mindset has left Colgate Students reminiscent of those adolescent summers spent at camp.

Summer camp is a place where you learn some valuable lessons which ironically still apply to Colgate today. 

1. You label everything with your name– whether it’s your nutella or your jacket what’s yours is yours and you don’t want someone taking your stuff when they go back home or you’ll just never see it again

2. You never know what you might need to pack for those themed events

3. Sports games and tailgates allow you to re-ignite your Color War spirit and competitve rage

4. Songs are always better when sang together

5. Every year there’s a new crush- everybody knows them, everybody wants them

6. If you don’t already have the skill you can pick up an array of hobbies such as boating, club sport playing, swimming, spinning, acapella singing or horseback riding

7. If you miss your wake up call, sneakers and looking as athletic as possible is probably your best bet

8. Realizing you have random mutual friends with someone leaves you just as shocked and happy as Lindsay Lohan in The Parent Trap

9.  Your diet must incorporate some form of pizza

10. Nothing feels better than getting a care package in the mail

11. Deer= Wildlife

12. You have to jump in the lake, atleast once before you leave

13. Everyone says they won’t kiss and tell… but they always do