To the Class of 2024
by Amanda Kim ’21 & Claire Goldstein ’22, Editors-in-Chief
To the Class of 2024, welcome to Hamilton College! We know we speak for everyone at The Spectator and Hamilton at large when we say how excited we are for you to join this community. We’re sure your freshman year hasn’t started the way you thought it would. COVID-19 has affected us all in different and often disproportionate ways. Regardless, we grizzly old upperclassmen are glad you are here.
You have probably spent the last few months receiving (often unwarranted) advice from people about how to navigate college. We apologize in advance for adding our own two cents to the pile, but given the circumstances we hope you’ll hear us out.
Four years may sound like a long time, but soon you’ll start to see just how quickly time passes on the Hill. While no one’s experience at Hamilton is exactly alike, there’s one thing we can promise you: it’s that you’ll learn. And we’re not just talking about exam material and concentrations. You’ll learn how to be a college student, sure. But you’ll do more than that. You’ll meet people you never thought you’d meet. You’ll discover interests you never knew you had. You’ll laugh harder than you’ve ever laughed. At the end of the day, college is about change. It’s about growth. It’s about uncertainty.
And uncertainty is the name of the game right now. This pandemic and the “new normal” of social distancing and mask-wearing are not what any of us anticipated. We certainly did not expect our senior and junior years of college to begin this way. But your admittance to Hamilton is solid proof that you have the resilience not just to overcome challenges, but to face adversity head-on. Your college experience will be what you make of it, so let’s make this fall a good one.
Follow the safety guidelines and have fun. And once again, welcome to Hamilton!
Sincerely,
Amanda Kim ’21 & Claire Goldstein ’22
Editors-in-Chief
