Today, ladies and gentlemen, we are going to start off with an activity. Make a list of the top three words you would use to describe the average RPI student. No, don’t keep reading just because I am not there to watch you actually make a list. Get out a pen and write your list in the page margin if you have to do so. I have an important point to make here. I will wait while you write.
According to my awesomely accurate on-the-spot analysis of responses I received from people on my buddy list, chances are you came back with something along the lines of “smart, awkward, nerd.” Now you may have come up with a number of other responses. To be honest, it does not really matter what is on your list. What I care about is the fact that your list does not include anything related to the words active, healthy, or athletic. In fact, I would wager the words did not even cross your mind.
Now, I understand that you are thinking to yourself that I am clearly nuts. But this is a quantitative audience, so consider that each year we have over 600 of our students participate in varsity athletics. Add to that the 3,500+ unique individuals who participate in our intramural leagues and the 4,500 total individuals we see come through the Mueller Center each week. If you add in the students participating in one of our 41 club sports, I think you will agree that we have an extremely high percentage of our peers who are participating in organized programs. This does not even include those of us who choose to run around campus or participate in outside activities.
Still not convinced we are an active and fit campus? Allow me to introduce the five guys who live with me: Greg, Drew, Bob, Jarell, and Chris. How do we know each other? ResLife put us on the second floor of Cary in rooms next to each other our freshman year. Other than that, we have a diverse set of interests and experiences that match those commonly found on this campus. While I myself am a dual information technology and psychology major, two are electrical engineers, one a mechanical engineer, one a management student, and the other a chemical engineer. We’re a busy group; RPI makes sure of that. But we still have fun and find time to get out and do things. Like the rest of the student body, we still are incredibly involved in athletic endeavors on campus. We as a group religiously shut down the gym each night with the rest of the midnight crowd. On weekends, we can be found in the ’87 Gym playing racquetball or over at Doris Robison Field in a home-run derby.
Though we do many things together, the members of my house also participate in a variety of activites on their own. As a member of the four-time defending champion Burning Heart intramural basketball team, Bob tore his ACL and was out the next season. He overcame the injury, returning to the Burning Heart this year, while also playing intramural soccer with Greg. Chris takes a completely different approach to an active lifestyle. Not only is he a member of the Outing Club, but he serves as the president of the SCUBA Club as well. Best of all is the hilarious spectacle created by Drew’s D league intramural hockey team, the Zamboozers.
If my roommates can do it, anyone can. For those of you who have not joined a club sport or an intramural team, why not? All the cool kids are doing it.
Editor’s Note: The Top Hat column was not submitted this week.
