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On the Campus: July 2, 1997
A senior shares memories good and bad BY JEREMY CAPLAN '97 Some of us are heading for medical school, law school, or the class favorites, management consulting and investment banking. Others are heading for roads less traveled. A few will train for the Olympics. Others will join the Peace Corps. Some of us (myself included) will aim for careers in the arts. Whatever our chosen path, our class, like all classes before us, shares bonds of hope and uncertainty. Peering ahead into the future, we see only shadows and mist. Many of us will end up enjoying tremendous good fortune, while for others, undoubtedly, tragedy awaits. At our Class Day ceremonies in June, Dean of Admission Fred Hargadon (introduced as "Dean Fred") gave what was my favorite graduation-week speech. He talked movingly about how hard it was to watch a class he loved step away from Princeton. In his parting message, he urged us to follow our dreams, to stay in touch with Princeton, and to stay in touch with each other. As I listened, I was reminded of my dad's words about college being the best days of his life. Like some of my classmates, I felt proud to graduate, but sorry to leave Princeton behind. Sitting there with the entire Class of 1997, listening to Dean Fred, four years of Princetoniana flooded to mind. A few moments stand out, and I'd like to leave you-and this page-with them. First, some good times: - Princeton's defeat of UCLA's men's basketball team, the defending NCAA champ, in the first round of the 1996 tournament, Coach Pete Carril's penultimate game. The win itself was thrilling, but the celebration afterward is what I'll remember most about that night. Hundreds, probably thousands, of us poured onto Prospect Avenue as soon as the last buzzer sounded, dancing in jubilant disbelief. Everyone was hugging, smiling ear-to-ear; we all felt part of a greater whole, excited to witness such a fantastic upset. That night I hugged classmates I had never met, partied with people I had never seen. That night we rejoiced over our common bond to Princeton as we never had before. - The day students had the courage to storm President Shapiro's office and plead the case for ethnic studies. It was exciting not only because it ran counter to the apathy characteristic of our student body, but because people rallied around the protesters during their 36-hour sit-in, showing they cared. - The first shows put on by the new Princeton Shakespeare Company, a group that helped reinvigorate undergraduate drama at Princeton. With super shows staged under outdoor arches with minimal sets and costumes, the PSC has been a bright spot on campus. Then, some bad ones: - The cold Monday mornings when a dormitory janitor had to trudge through vomit resulting from a raucous Saturday night spree at Tiger Inn to find that all three of the toilets downstairs were overflowing. Some of us never seem to realize that people actually have to clean up the remains of our weekly drunken revels. Maybe someday someone will speak out for the university's cleaning staff. - The long nights spent bent over a keyboard, racing against the sunrise to finish a term paper while scarcely conscious. And finally, some poignant ones: - Sitting in Dillon Gym for our step-sing, the class smiling and singing together. Not joined in protest or drunken stupor, just proud to have finished together. - Pinning hoods on one another on Cannon Green, helping each other one last time before walking out the front gates together. A couple of us wore funny hats, a few had cigars. But most of us donned only the simple graduation gown, not because we couldn't think of anything better, but because we were proud to be a part of tradition. We didn't need to prove we were unique. - The last goodbye. Even though we all promise to call and write to one another, only a fraction of the people we say "Hi" to will ever make our address books. It's hard to part with friends with whom we've shared everything. It's especially tough because we've all heard that everything is downhill from here. College is the best time of our lives, they say. In the real world, everything is different. D. Allan Drummond '95, who wrote in this space when I first arrived on the campus, recently told me that for him, things got better after leaving Princeton. Allan's words were reassuring. I hope that his experience will be matched by many of my graduating friends and classmates, that our years after Princeton match the spirit of our best moments on this campus. I hope that long after the novelty of Reunions wears off, we come back to Princeton, proud not only to have been at this great place, but to have made the most of life after leaving. I hope also that each time we return, we will find a place as great or greater than the place we left this June.
Jeremy Caplan plans to study violin at the European Mozart Academy in Warsaw, Poland. His e-mail address is caplan1@aol.com. |