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…

The Shorthand of Emotion: Music at St. John’s College

In the beginning, there were drums. Then, there were the chants sung in medieval abbeys, and then, harmony, and the great composers of the 18th and 19th centuries. As St. John’s students, we discover all of that in our music program. The first song we learn, in our freshman chorus, is often medieval. The first…

Our Favorite College Ghost Stories

I’m Petra Schaaf-Grisham, the newest admissions counselor at St. John’s and a member of the Class of 2021. Through extensive research, my friend Ives Williams and I created a ghost tour of the Annapolis campus of St. John’s College. For my first blog post, on Halloween itself, I want to introduce you to some of the scariest parts…

Raising The Persisting Human Questions

I would like to introduce you to the core, governing, visionary document of the college, The Statement of the Program:   Come back soon for the next deep dive about The Seminar.