Welcome! We're excited for you..and jealous

RYAN E. SMITH/YH The Herald proudly celebrates its 12th year, and welcomes you to four great years at Yale.

By David Altschuler

So here I am sitting in the Herald office on a beautiful mid-May afternoon. School has been out for two weeks, and the 30-odd devoted staff members who spent 10 days putting this issue together have departed. I've layed out pages, edited articles, corrected flats...and now I'm supposed to spend the next 700 words passing on some wisdom to you, Yale's Class of 2002. It's sort of ironic; as I'm writing this, Tom Brokaw is imparting his own words of wisdom in his Commencement address to the Class of 1998. While Yale sends off one class, I sit at my laptop welcoming another.

After intense research and hours burning the midnight oil, I present to you the three things that make Yale special. First, and most obviously, is the academic opportunity. You'll take classes taught by some of the top minds in the world, and interact with professors who will wow you with their insights. Sure, a fair chunk of your classes will put you to sleep and the workload will shave years off your life. But the exposure to the vast expanse of knowledge your professors possess will make a permanent contribution to your intellectual development. You'll sit through a Rogers Smith lecture on constitutional law, and see proof that the document is alive and well. You'll listen to Harold Bloom's interpretation of Shakespeare, and know you're learning from perhaps the number one authority on the subject in the world. You can't put a price on the knowledge your professors will confer to you—the opportunity to learn from these individuals make Yale unique.

The second thing that makes Yale special are the things Yalies do outside of the classroom. Extracurricular groups are the lifeblood of the University, and the activities Yalies participate in run the gamut from community service to dance to downhill skiing. Wait until you see the Frosh Bazaar—hundreds of groups will be vying for your attention, begging you to sign on their dotted line. Singing groups, theater troupes, fraternities, sports teams, or, say, weekly newspapers with an office on Park Street—these groups make Yale tick. The cohesiveness of undergraduate organizations and the dedication of individual members is unparalleled, and the contribution of these groups energizes Yale's campus. Without them, Yale would lose its identity and turn into that one-track school in Cambridge.

The most striking thing is that everybody does something. Freshman year, I had one roommate who was chair of the freshman class, one who was the leading scorer on the hockey team, and another who participated in children's theater and rowed crew. Across the hall was an actor, a singer, and perhaps the best collegiate fencer in the country. Yalies devote countless hours to their extracurricular pursuits, often sacrificing academic well-being to follow their interests. And most don't give this choice a second thought.

The last and most important thing that makes Yale special is the people. Simply stated, Yalies are an amazing bunch. Some of your classmates will dazzle you with their talent, intelligence, and wit. You'll see musicians headed for the world's best symphonies, stump speakers en route to careers in politics, and budding philosophers set to make their mark in the intellectual world. The contributions these students make to the Yale community are immeasurable, and when you see these gifted Yalies in the limelight later in life you'll be able to say that you saw it coming.

But in reality, simple exposure to talented individuals won't contribute much to your Yale expierience. The classmates who will really make your time here so memorable will be the ones who will accompany you on 3 a.m. trips to Krauzer's, spend hours BS-ing in your common room, or give your term paper a final read one hour before it's due. You'll cram 10 people around a table that seats six in the dining hall, play pickup games of stickball in your courtyard, and spend late nights chilling at Naples. These will be the times you'll remember for the rest of your life—the hours spent in the company of friends make Yale matter.

Freshman year is tough. You'll arrive an anonymous face in a class of over 1,200. Thrown into a new environment, you'll be asked to start over--make new friends, carve out your identity, and pursue new interests. Some of you will embrace this change right off the bat and make an impact on this campus from day one. And some of you will take one semester or more to get adjusted, finding your niche at Yale more gradually. Either way, though, each of you will find your spot, forge new friendships, and have a great time doing it.

And before you know it, you'll be sitting in front of a computer wondering how the hell things passed by so quickly. The nameless Yalies that surrounded you on Old Campus in September to listen to a welcoming address by President Levin, GRD '74, and Dean Brodhead, BR '68, GRD '72, will be your best friends and Yale's campus leaders. So enjoy the rest of the summer, get psyched for Yale—and read the next 75 pages.