Lancaster

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Site Information

Location

The Lancaster site is held at Franklin and Marshall College, in (where else?) Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Lancaster is right in the middle of Pennsylvania Dutch country, but as a CTYer, you won't get the chance to do any Amish sightseeing, except perhaps on a weekend trip to the Farmers' Market in downtown Lancaster (which comes highly recommended, by the way). The rest of your time will be spent on campus, which at 55 acres is small but not cramped. The campus can seem a good deal smaller, though, during times when it is shared by other programs, including a number of sports camps. However, CTY is by far the largest presence at F&M during the summer.

Dorms

There are seven main dormitories which are or were used by CTY: North and South Ben (or Benjamin Franklin Residence Halls), Thomas, Schnader, Weis, Marshall-Buchanan, and Dietz. North and South Ben are each subdivided into four halls, and Thomas and Schnader both have north and south subdivisions as well. North and South Ben form the west side of the residential quad, flanking the dining hall, and Thomas and Schnader are on the east side. Weis Hall is located on the north end of the quad and formerly housed the staff. Marshall-Buchanan is on the south side of the quad. Dietz is inconveniently located all the way across Hartman Green, and its residents frequently lamented living there, though it has not been used for CTY since 2004. Since 2003, access to all the dorms is controlled by fobs.

However, the dorms that CTYers actually occupy change from year to year because of renovations at F&M. During the 2004 sessions, students lived in North Ben, Thomas, Marshall-Buchanan, and Dietz. In 2005, students lived in Schnader, South Ben, Marshall (males only), and Buchanan (females only with the exception of a male hall in the basement) while the office and medical office were housed in Thomas. In 2006, students lived in Schander, South Ben, Marshall, and Thomas, while the office and the medical office were again housed in Thomas. In 2007, students lived in North Ben, South Ben, and Schnader, with the instructional and administrative staff in Thomas. Schnader was completely female, while North Ben was completely male. South Ben had males in Kunkel, Klein, and Dubbs Houses, and females in Atlee House.

In 2007.2 the damp climate in Schnader caused many students to develop a cold which became known as "The Schnade" or "Schnades". This quickly spread to the rest of campus. Despite the obvious and visible mold (one girl found a covering of mold in her trashcan that was over an inch thick) in the Schnader showers and dorms, no staff member has admitted mold as a possibly culprit. The (known) symptoms of Schnades include a runny nose, sneezing, coughing, coughing up blood, vomiting,a bad sore throat, and a bad British accent. However, cases of pink eye, pneumonia, chicken pox, sinus infections, and insomnia amongst the student body have also been attributed to Schnades.

All the dorms are air-conditioned, though the individual air-conditioners can be cranky and/or dysfunctional. One distinctive feature of the bedrooms in some buildings is their modular furniture. By properly positioning the wardrobe and dresser, the bed can be placed on top of both, creating a loft;ladders are provided in each room for this very purpose. This frees up a lot of space in the room, provided that you don't mind sleeping within two feet of the paneled ceiling. Occasionally, a student will fall out of a lofted bed, prompting the staff to enforce a "no lofts" policy. When this occurs, the RA's come through the halls debunking everyone's beds.

In '06, North Ben was under construction during both sessions of CTY. This caused much annoyance among students whose Frisbees were lost in that area during 06.1. From the fourth floor of Thomas, at least two dozen Frisbees were visible at any one time. Also during 06.1, the trees in the sectioned-off part of the Quad were cut down. In 2007, CTYers returned to find that construction on North Ben was complete, along with a glass-walled extension known as Ware, which was used for activities such as talent show practice.

Food

All students eat in the central cafeteria on campus. There are four lines and four dining rooms. See Alcove and LLRT for information on the groups associated with specific areas of the dining halls.

Selection of food on each line:

  1. Main Line (standard style dorm food, usually meat, veggies, with rice/mashed potatoes, sometimes stir fry)
  2. Vegetarian Line (generally with pasta, sometimes stir fry or other various foods)
  3. Grill (burgers, fries, etc.)
  4. Pizza Station
  5. Wraps Station
  6. Soup/Salad Bar
  7. Cereal
  8. Soft Serve Machine
  9. Microwave
  10. Dessert/Fruit Table

(Again due to renovations, the students were forced to trek across the footbridge during the 2004 sessions for meals at the Alumni Sports & Fitness Center. Also known affectionately as the A$$f*ck.)

Also, Lancaster is the only peanut-free CTY site. The RAs and most of the student body take this very seriously.

As of 2004, there are only three dining halls, in addition to the main entrance area. Dining Room 4 has been converted into a special-events dining room and is not accessible from the regular dining hall. In 2007, Dining Room 1 was closed off, along with the beloved Alcove, for Kosherization. The Alcove relocated to a corner of Dining Room 2. Also in 2007, Dining Room 4 was opened by special request to accomodate apostles to the Last Supper.

History

Lancaster is one of the oldest CTY sites, and as such, has some of the oldest and richest traditions. Although the first OTID (Office of Talent Identification and Development, a former name for CTY) summer program was held at St. Mary's College in 1981, it was held at Lancaster and Carlisle in the following year, and these two sites have been the oldest continuously running CTY sites.

Throughout most of its history, Lancaster has been the largest site at CTY, hosting over 500 students each session. Until the mid-1990s, Lancaster's many courses were organized into five colleges, for Humanities, Writing, Math, Computer Science, and Science. Each college was partly autonomous, with its own graduation ceremony, and, for a time, its own t-shirts. Since then, the academic organization has been streamlined into three subject areas (Humanities/Writing, Math/Computer Science, and Science) with a single graduation ceremony.

Because of its size and age, Lancaster has seen numerous student groups and traditions arise; some of these can be seen below.

Courses offered

Lancaster has had traditionally been a hotspot for math and science courses. It is the only site to offer Number Theory, Theory of Computation, Data Structures and Algorithms, Selected Topics in Advanced Biology, and Selected Topics in Advanced Chemistry. Lancaster is one of two sites to offer History of Disease, Archaeology, and Paleobiology, and in 2001, it was the first site to offer Cryptology. Lancaster also offers Fundamentals of Computer Science. Lancaster also has some strong humanities offerings, such as Ancient Greek and Etymologies, though it lacks the breadth of Carlisle in this regard.

Students and Organizations

Students

This list is ordered by nomore year, and sub-ordered by number of years attended.

RAs

Positions

Groups

Traditions

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