By Travis Skabo, Admissions Student Worker Every Friday during lunch, several St. John’s students gather in a small room just off the main dining hall for a lunchtime conversation with Dean Davis. These conversations are always based off a section of a text that is being read in class that week, or a short text…
Black History Month at St. John’s
Happy Black History Month! St. John’s College is inextricably intertwined with the history of the United States, being involved in such events as the Revolutionary War, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the writing of the national anthem, and the history of Black American community and culture. St. John’s has a notable history with…
Welcome to Camp Johnnie
Sports can form a great part of student life at many colleges and universities. After all, nobody can be expected to spend all their time on classes, studies, and homework for four years. (All work and no play, you might say, would make Johnnies dull.) Of course, St. John’s can’t be expected to do anything…
Everything In Time: Deferrals, Gap Years, and January Starts
When is the right time to start college? The answer to this question may seem obvious. Many think that the time to start college is inevitably in the fall after graduating high school, with only a summer in between. But that’s not the only choice available; many students choose not to start college right away,…
What All the Talk is About: Discussion at St. John’s
Much is often made in talking about St. John’s College of the importance of text, reading and writing. And it’s right for us to make so much of those things! Great Books, and the process of reading and analyzing them are, after all, the core of what we do here. The value of discussion at…
The Mighty Pen: Writing Papers at St. John’s
In middle or high school, many, perhaps most, students are taught a formula for essay writing. I, for example, was taught that an essay should always have, in this order, an introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and then a conclusion. You must, I was told, outline your argument in the introduction, give three supporting points,…
The Balance and the Book: Laboratory and Natural Sciences at St. John’s
The lab program at St. John’s is one of a kind. All students study the sciences (including physics, astronomy, biology, chemistry, and more) as part of our one, interdisciplinary major. There is no separate science building which marks sciences apart from the humanities — although we do have separate lab classrooms, equipped with fixings like…
Why so contrarian?
St. John’s College takes great pride in having been described by the New York Times as “the most contrarian college in America.” But it’s a tricky, sticky word, “contrarian.” It carries all sorts of different connotations, depending on the reader, so it may be hard to discern what exactly it is that St. John’s is…
St. John’s: Not Just for Introverts
It takes all kinds to make the world go around! St. John’s thrives on this balance in our close community and small classes. Whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert, the college can be a paradise. An important part of the college experience is defining your own identity. No longer are you defined solely by…
Beating Homesickness at College
Freshman year is a time of substantial changes for everyone, no matter where they come from. You can’t help but be changed by it. You’ve been plucked from the life you know and thrust firmly into the newly adult college world, poised in front of a lot of lessons to learn. As an alum of…
The Chalkboard 