Welcome back, Brewers! The Features section, our newspaper’s home for everything but the kitchen sink, greets you with open arms into our dear Dutchess County. For freshmen or wandering upperclassmen, you missed an exciting summer on campus, a great season of change and novelty. The rather annoying caterpillars from spring have transformed into moths fluttering at dusty windows. There are cherry blossoms in the Shakespeare Garden and blistering heat, everywhere.
In true Vassar fashion, the campus remained bustling with students over the break participating in programs such as Ford Scholars, the Undergraduate Research Summer Institute (URSI), Powerhouse Theater, Community Fellows and other on-campus jobs. But summer at the College definitely is not the same as during the school year. From jarring construction projects cropping up across campus to reduced options at the Deece (aka mini-deece), students on campus navigated a simultaneously familiar and foreign landscape.
For many, living on campus this summer proved to be a positive, restorative experience, rendering one able to fully appreciate the views of Vassar without a cloud of academic stress overhead. After the end of the workday at 5 p.m., worries about experiments going awry or projects running dry officially left students’ heads, opening up opportunities to venture outside of campus.
Katy Wu ’25 worked at a local farm this summer, commenting, “Living on campus this summer was refreshing as I got to experience Vassar’s beautiful campus without having to worry about schoolwork and the fast-paced life of the school year. I was fortunate enough to have other friends here as well, and we even got to explore more of the nearby towns and areas on the weekend!”
With less happening on campus, Brewers broke out of the Vassar bubble, investigating the rest of Poughkeepsie and the Hudson Valley. Especially as Main, the chosen dorm where summer students were housed, underwent asbestos cleaning and lacked central air conditioning, students were eager to travel. With towns like Beacon and Cold Spring reachable by the MetroNorth and New Paltz and Kingston drivable journeys, students this summer found the time to tour places they would not typically have during the semester. Eve Braverman ’25 participated in URSI and partook in several outings during the summer, stating, “After being abroad last semester it was so nice to be back in Poughkeepsie with some friends! I explored the Hudson Valley, which I haven’t taken full advantage of since being at Vassar. My housemates and I enjoyed the strawberry festival in Beacon, hiked in Esopus, and went to a museum in Cold Spring.”
Victor Zhang ’25 agreed: “During the semester I was always too busy to visit nearby towns and explore what the Hudson Valley had to offer. Being at Vassar over the summer was a nice change of pace and on the weekends I found myself biking to New Paltz and Wappingers or taking the train down to Beacon and Cold Spring. I was finally able to enjoy some of the restaurants, matcha and community that Vassar has to offer.”
Limited food at mini-deece further encouraged students to broaden their horizons. Three swipes a day at Home and Root provided opportunities for students to catch up with each other on freshly-laminated tabletops. However, hunger after 8 p.m. was left un-satiated, pushing students to search for food elsewhere.
With the Fall 2024 semester beginning, this season’s adventures are winding down. Priorities shift as homework piles up and exams loom; fall colors and sweater weather take over. Familiar classmates move back in.
That is not to say off-campus outings must halt completely. To the incoming class of 2028 and the returning student body: Take a note from those who stayed in Poughkeepsie this summer. We invite you to travel to the Minnewaska State Park Preserve, the Storm King Art Center or the Antiques Barn in New Paltz; perhaps visit the Vanderbilt Mansion, Ferncliff Forest or the nearby Locust Grove Estate. Try out every location of Ready Coffee; check out every bookstore on the Hudson Valley Book Trail.
The start of the school year is often filled with conflicting emotions—new beginnings and bittersweet endings. But summer adventures need not end! They will simply take a different shape.