First we'll start off in Colgate Hall. Colgate is our main building on campus. It's where we've got our business offices, admissions, financial aid, etc. On the first floor is our President's Office. President Tom Galligan has an open door policy, which means you can stop by his office any time to chat. He's a really nice guy, and he teaches some courses on campus. Often, you'll see him wandering around campus wearing his brown Indiana Jones hat, smiling, and talking to students about their day. Also on the first floor, near the business office, is one of our computer labs. Our entire campus is wireless, so you can access our network anywhere on campus (including buildings and outside). When you come as a freshman, you'll be given a login/password to the CSC Network, where you'll have access to a P:/Drive. The P drive is just a folder on the computer where you can save your work, and bring it up on any computer on campus, because it's linked with the network. This way, you can write a paper on your laptop, save it to your P Drive, and then go to one of the computer labs to print it out. This is helpful if you don't have a printer, or you're like me and you have a printer, but you can't afford ink. Upstairs in Colgate are classrooms and some of the Professor's offices. On the third floor is the Media Center with our radio station, video lab, and more classrooms. On the fourth floor is the Wesson Honors Suite. Wesson Honors Students have full access to the suite. It's one of the perks of being super smart. (I'm not a Wesson Honors student).
Leaving Colgate, we'll walk across the quad towards one of our Residence Halls. Our quad is an oval shaped area surrounded by buildings (mostly residence halls, but one or two academic buildings as well) where students hang out, play frisbee or soccer or rugby or football. During the warm months, we have a variety of events out on the quad. Things like outdoor movies, cookouts, etc...
Now let's check out a residence hall! We have two styles of residence halls: Traditional and Suite style. Traditional style is basically what you think of when you picture a dorm - long hallways with dorm rooms on both sides of the hallway. Suite styles are set up a bit more like pods - there are usually about 6 rooms (doubles, typically) which share two private bathrooms and a common area with a kitchenette. The Suites are down on lower campus, a bit further away from everything, and tend to be quieter and more secluded, whereas the traditional styles are located around the quad on upper campus. We have an all-female dorm, "Abbey". The others are all co-ed, either by floor or section or room - depending on the layout of the building. We also have one Substance Free dorm, "McKean". We are a wet campus, which means if you are 21 years old, you can have alcohol in your room. McKean is the exception to that rule - no alcohol even if you are 21. Each room comes with a bed, desk, chair, dresser, and closet (of some sort - it may be an armoire) for each roommate. You can also bring a fridge, microwave, and television. No open flames, no hot plates, nothing that could burn the building down! Each room comes with basic cable (for free) and you can upgrade if you want, but you'll have to pay if you do. Every residence hall has bathrooms on each floor, and a laundry room with multiple machines where you can do your laundry. (it's $1.00 per machine - you pay for it using your SmartCard, which we'll come back to later).
Next up is the Hogan Sports Center. This is our gym. Our gym used to be in Mercer Hall, but now that's used for the Exercise Sports Science Majors - they have their labs in there, and there's also a rock climbing wall in there, which is tons of fun! In the Hogan Center we have our basketball court with a suspended track above it. The track, 1/10th of a mile, hangs right above the court. It's really neat! We also have an indoor (heated) pool. We have a swimming and diving team, and they practice and have meets in there, but there are also open hours for free swim. All of our facilities are open to the community, so you may see the little New London children taking swimming lessons, or the older community members doing physical therapy in the pool. The community members have to pay for their membership, but our students get everything for free. We also have our workout area with tons of machines for working out, including a weight room section, treadmills, stationary bikes, etc...We have personal trainers on staff to help you form a workout, or teach you how to use the machines - whatever you need. We also have aerobics rooms for our many different classes: Zumba, Yoga, Kick Boxing, and so much more! For those of you who enjoy skiing or snowboarding, we get a free season pass to Mt. Sunapee, which includes one free lesson and one free rental!
Now on to my favorite building on campus, the Library. Our library is two pre-civil war barns that were put together. Overall, the library has a really cozy feel about it. There are many levels to our library, and tons of books, and if for some reason we don't have the book you're looking for, we have an inter-loan system set up with Dartmouth college, so we can get the book for you. We also have multiple computer labs scattered throughout the library. Some of the resources available in the library are the Harrington Center for Career and Development - this is where you'll go when you're filling out resumes, setting up your internship (which is required for graduation), preparing for job interviews, or studying abroad - they'll help you with absolutely everything. They're phenomenal. Also we have the Academic Development Center - here we have student and faculty tutors who are available to help you with any academic need you may have: whether it's working on a paper, studying, or just understanding material from class, the ADC is there to help you out. The third important resource in the library is the Help Desk: they'll fix your computer for free.
Next on our agenda is the Ivey Science Center! This is our main science building, but there are also regular classrooms in there - it's pretty much just a big academic building with science labs in it. Ivey also houses our ONLY lecture hall. Our average class size is about 17 students, and we cap it at 25, so you'll never have a "lecture" course. The lecture hall is typically used for film classes (because there's a huge screen that's perfect for watching movies) or guest speakers. All of our classrooms are "Smart Classrooms", meaning there's a projector hooked up to the computers, and a screen installed in each room, so with the push of a button, whatever is on the computer can be projected onto the screen. This is really helpful with note-taking, showing video clips in class, or doing powerpoint presentations.
Moving along to The Lodge, this is another cozy building, with a Ski Lodge feel to it. There's a fire place, a games room, and a kitchen. The Lodge is where you go for food after the dining hall has closed. The dining hall is open from about 7am-7pm each day, and the Lodge serves food until about 11 or 12 every night. Now here's where we'll talk about your SmartCard (remember that from earlier?) Your SmartCard serves many purposes: it's your student ID, your entrance into any building (you hold the card up to the little boxes next to the doors, and it'll let you in - if you're allowed. You can get into your own dorm 24/7, but other dorms lock you out in the evenings, and most academic buildings are locked unless you have special permission to be in them at night), it's your entrance into the dining hall (Our dining plan is UNLIMITED and INCLUDED IN TUITION. It's part of your room and board, so all you have to do is swipe your card when you walk into the dining hall - it doesn't cost money each visit, because you've already paid for it, and it's all you can eat, and you can go as many times as you want...we'll talk more about the dining hall in a moment), and your SmartCard is also a sort of debit card on campus. You can put money on it electronically and use it at places like The Lodge (not included in the dining plan), the mail room, the bookstore, and for laundry. So back to the Lodge - this place has really excellent food: chicken ranch wraps, chicken tenders, buffalo tenders, quesadillas...they have Ben & Jerry's by the pint...I mean really. The place is fantastic. So this is where you come at night when you have a craving for a late night snack. Also, some events take place at the Lodge, like open mic nights, karaoke, poetry readings, philosophy club meetings, etc. In the games room there's a foosball table, air hockey, pool, ping pong, and a flat screen TV.
The dining hall has a lot of different options. We've got "Flash in the Pan" which is always changing, and on any given day could be stir fry, pasta bar, potato bar, special salads (i.e. greek salad or caesar salad), or on Friday's it's Cheese Bar Friday: a variety of cheeses, crackers, and fruit. Next to Flash in the Pan is the Hot Beverage section - coffee, tea, hot chocolate; also soy milk. Moving down the line we have the main meal section - burgers, pizza, pasta, vegetarian option, and the main hot meal of the day. During breakfast hours, this is all replaced with breakfast foods like eggs, bacon, home fries, muffins, etc... We've got a salad bar, a fruit bar, a sandwich bar (if you come during lunch, they'll actually make sandwiches for you...just like Subway!) then there's the Bagel Station (with a variety of bagels and toast, a toaster, peanut butter, jelly, cream cheese, and butter) there's a yogurt station, a cereal station, the cold beverages (soda, milk, juice, lemonade, etc...) and finally...the Dessert Bar! (My favorite). The dining hall has all of these options, and keep in mind - it's all you can eat, you can come as many times as you want, and it's included in tuition!
Above the dining hall is Wheeler Hall which is where most of our events take place. Also, we've got the mail room. If you're a residential student (meaning you live ON campus) you get your very own mail box! You can receive all kinds of mail and packages from home - and trust me, every student checks their mail before they go to any meal, regardless of whether or not they're expecting anything.
Finally, we've got the Sawyer Fine Arts Center which is where we have our theater, Graphic Design Lab, Ceramic Studio, Dance Studio, Painting Studio, etc... Next to the Sawyer Center is the Baird Health & Counseling Center. This is basically the doctor's office on campus. They can do health exams, prescribe medication, and counsel you if you're stressed! It's nice to have them right there on campus, and for anything more serious, we've got the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center about 30 minutes down the highway.
Well, that's pretty much campus. I hope you enjoyed your virtual tour! Come back and visit soon! :)