The landscape of Stevens has changed so much since I came here in Fall 2020. When I arrived on campus, the UCC Towers were blocked behind fences and scaffolding obscured most of the view. With so little of the campus populated, and all the buildings being new and foreign to me, it felt big. It felt like pioneering, discovering the academic buildings and areas to socialize without upperclassmen. As campus reopened, I carved my paths, but the Innovation University continued to change.
The Stute office used to be in the attic of Martha Bayard, which we used to call the Student Center (and was previously named Alexander House). The first floor was dedicated to the intercultural space and they had fantastic little couches and a TV that I would put music videos on. The game center was there, and the pool table remained in constant use. The attic was magnificent, a slanted roof with dormer windows, and a cardboard cutout of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. We had two rows of desks and would sit back to back, turning around any time we needed a break and felt like a chat. In the office there was room for a meeting table, but we’d go across the hall to give presentations or hold staff meetings.
Howe had four dining options: Pierce Dining Hall, Pierce Cafe, and Colonel Johns & Sonos. The Pierce Omelette station has always been elite. I would bring my computer and my bottle of Cholula to the dining hall and join my 9am zoom math lecture. At the time, they only had the far inferior Texas Pete hot sauce packets, and while we can’t be certain, I’d say you have me to thank for the switch to the jugs of Cholula. Downstairs, where the oddly shaped classrooms now are used to be Colonel Johns, aka CJs, which eventually evolved into Grill Nation, while Sonos was rebranded to Tu Taco. The staff at CJs worked themselves to the bone; it had a mean burger and the drink fridge was incredibly accessible. I saw probably hundreds of dollars worth of soda stolen from the CJs fridge, from students with TeraByte meal plans. RIP to a real one fr.
Phys. Ed. used to be a requirement. Every student not on a club or varsity team had to fulfill four P.E. credits. Exercise bands were on my syllabus and I would go to Walker for an hour a week and try not to embarrass myself. We’d have class there at the same time every week and every week it would be locked, and we’d have to go searching for keys.
The first big snow I experienced on campus made a silence that was completely foreign to me. The city noises were dulled, the campus was frozen and undisturbed. Only the racing, icy wind pierced the picturesque image. The trek to the dining hall to pickup a meal was treacherous; the wind was so strong that I was pushed backwards just standing still. My friends and I sled down the Castle Point Tennis Courts hill in a laundry basket, and made a snowman on Schaefer Lawn.
There are officially less than 100 days until graduation. People keep asking me my plans, as if I wasn’t still deciding my major a mere 3 years ago. Sometimes I get big ideas about the good I could do for people with all the physics I’ve learned and math I’ve struggled through. Change will happen whether you make it or not, but I’d rather be a part of it.
