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As a second-semester junior, I’ve been reflecting on my time at Westmont. Recently, I’ve contemplated the strange phenomenon in which the first-years seem to get younger and younger every year (that’s how it works, right?). That made me think of how I viewed upperclass students as a first-year and how that view has changed since becoming one myself. I would like to provide a few explanations for some of the odd behaviors you may observe in upperclass students on campus.
Odd Behavior: Lurking suspiciously around campus events while holding tupperware.
Explanation: The longer you stay at Westmont, the more skilled you become at sniffing out free food. Especially for GLC residents, free food is an irresistible siren that brings them running with any container they could reasonably use to store food. Take pity on them: they’ve had the same pasta dish for seven dinners in a row.
Odd Behavior: Wandering around campus in the middle of the day clad in pajamas and airpods.
Explanation: While some students may choose to wear pajamas to class every now and then, upperclass students—especially seniors—are far more likely to do so frequently. In their defense, they probably haven’t gotten eight hours of sleep a single night this semester, and the lines between night and day may be fading. They’re also probably listening to the same song on repeat (usually Taylor Swift) and are looking for free food.
Odd Behavior: Laughing at something a professor said that wasn’t funny in the slightest.
Explanation: After attending Westmont for a couple of years, something cool happens: the students begin to (at least somewhat) understand our professors. At such a small school, upperclass students have likely taken several classes with the same professor and have begun to understand (and even reciprocate!) their strange (I mean unique?) humor. Last week, for example, one of my professors uttered the sentence, “That’s a dead meme,” in class. Given my experience in his other classes in which we’ve discussed the most complicated aspects of our faith and the nature of God, this sentence was inexplicably funny to me and made me laugh more than it should have.
I hope these brief explanations have given you some small insight into the strange lives of upperclass students. One more note—if you ever hear any agonized yelling coming from the KSC in the middle of the day, it’s because the career office has reminded another senior just how few days remain until graduation.