By Alex Christman · Contributing Writer
For 150 years, Grove City College has provided new students with an education that aims to prepare them for their future in the workforce, but despite this common goal, the freshman experience has been quite different over the years.
Grove City College started as a preparatory school, equipping rural students for college.
“It was kids who had been coming from one-room schoolhouses,” Hilary Walczak, director of college archives and galleries at Grove City College, said.
According to Walczak, the first classes to enter into the college would have stayed in off-campus boarding houses or rented rooms until the 1900s.
Rules were also very strict for the first students at the college, specifically in the way students dressed.
“I think Ketler would be appalled at what students are wearing today,” Walczak said.
As the college grew, so did the academics and community. During the 1950s and 1960s, the school developed academic departments and specialized education.
One tradition that was prominent from the school’s founding until 1971 was freshman “hazing,” which, according to Walczak, “was not malicious by any means.” For years, freshmen had to do challenges such as wearing funny hats and performing special dances and cheers at football games.
Today, Grove City College offers a very different freshman experience.
Freshman Tyler Hollenbach described the school community as friendly and said he has already made a good number of friends, despite classes having been in session for only three weeks.
Hollenbach stated that Grove City College has a much better community than most schools.
He specifically mentioned his surprise at how energetic the college’s Orientation Board was during his freshman orientation.
Hollenbach said he has been adjusting well to campus life, and activities such as marching band have helped. Hollenbach is also a part of Grove City College’s American Chemical Society and Wind Ensemble.
“I don’t know if it would be like that if I went to another college,” Hollenbach said.
