For Three Quick Questions, I send the same three questions to admission representatives at colleges all over the country, and then I hope to hear back from them. The three questions are meant to probe some of the things that make a school unique but that aren’t easily captured as a stat to go in a book or web search.

Today’s response is from Steven Simons, Senior Associate Dean of Admission and Marketing at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.

What is a course, tradition, program or event that is unique to Juniata College?

Juniata has so many traditions, it’s impossible to pick just one. Our most infamous is storming the arch, where first year students attempt to make it into Cloister Arch to get priority room draw, but are met by the men and women’s rugby team and other upper classmen who have stormed before. It is not for the faint of heart and rarely, if ever, does a first year student make it through. If storming isn’t your speed, you might like “Mountain Day”. A total surprise day in the fall where students are woken up at 5:30 AM because classes are cancelled. After sleeping in, students head out to the lake for a day of activities, food, sunshine, and simple fun. More traditions include Lobsterfest, Madrigal Dinner, Mr. Juniata, The Bailey Oratorical, Springfest, Surprise Day and Liberal Arts Symposium, but to learn about those, you’ll need to come visit!

Naturally every college wants to recruit the perfect student--high grades, high test scores, involved in their community, leadership...everything. But what kinds of imperfect students tend to flourish at Juniata?

Juniata is the ideal choice for inquisitive, intentional, and interesting students who want a college experience that will have a powerful impact upon their lives, and who are ready to do the work of self discovery. Imperfection is a pre-requisite to the type of learning that students do at Juniata. Here, they find a place that is completely committed to their personal growth and intellectual development. Each of our students are on their own journey of personal discovery. At Juniata, we give students a safe place to fail, so that they graduate with more than a hard-earned degree, but they take with them intellectual dexterity, courage of heart, and an ease with collaboration. Our students are fun, smart, and focused. At Juniata, we don’t have majors or minors, we have the Program of Emphasis, which allows students to collaborate with their faculty advisers to design a POE that is perfect for them and aligns with their career goals and educational aspirations. We aren’t looking for students who sit in their rooms all day and study, but are looking for students who come prepared to engage with their education and the people around them.

When people come to visit Huntingdon, what's a place off campus that you recommend they check out while they're there?

We always recommend people eat and hang out at Standing Stone Coffee Company, which is an alumni owned coffee shop right down the street, that is the unofficial hang-out spot for students and faculty. All the coffee is roasted on site, and students stick around in the evenings for live music, trivia nights, game nights, and much more. For people interested in the outdoors, they should check out Raystown Lake, the largest inland lake in the state of Pennsylvania. There are beautiful views, beaches, and students can get kayaks and canoes from our Environmental Science Field station located right on the lake, one of the few of its kind on the east coast.

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Photo by Angela Elisabeth. [The banner photo is not of Juniata. I use the same photo for all Meet the Class posts so you can spot them easily.]