Lancaster

Site Information

Location

The Lancaster site is held at Franklin and Marshall College, in (where else?) Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Lancaster is right in the middle of Pennsylvania Dutch country, but as a CTYer, you won't get the chance to do any Amish sightseeing, except perhaps on a weekend trip to the Farmers' Market in downtown Lancaster. The rest of your time will be spent on campus, which at 55 acres is small but not cramped. The campus can seem a good deal smaller, though, during times when it is shared by other programs, including a number of sports camps. However, CTY is by far the largest presence at F&M during the summer.

Dorms

There are four main dormitories occupied by CTYers: North and South Ben, (or Benjamin Franklin Residence Halls) Thomas, and Schnader. North and South Ben are each subdivided into four halls, and Thomas and Schnader both have north and south subdivisions as well. North and South Ben form the west side of the residential quad, flanking the dining hall, and Thomas and Schander are on the east side. Weis Hall, on the north end of the quad, is home to the academic and administrative staff, and is off-limits to students. Since 2003, access to all the dorms is controlled by fobs.

All the dorms are air-conditioned, though the individual air-conditioners can be cranky. One distinctive feature of the bedrooms is their modular furniture. By properly positioning the wardrobe and dresser, the bed can be placed on top of both, creating a loft—ladders are provided in each room for this very purpose. This frees up a lot of space in the room, provided that you don't mind sleeping within two feet of the paneled ceiling. Occasionally, a student will fall out of a lofted bed, prompting the staff to enforce a "no lofts" policy.

History

Lancaster is one of the oldest CTY sites, and as such, has some of the oldest and richest traditions. Although the first OTID (Office of Talent Identification and Development, a former name for CTY) summer program was held at St. Mary's College in 1981, it was held at Lancaster and Carlisle in the following year, and these two sites have been the oldest continuously running CTY sites.

Throughout most of its history, Lancaster has been the largest site at CTY, hosting over 500 students each session. Until the mid-1990s, Lancaster's many courses were organized into five colleges, for Humanities, Writing, Math, Computer Science, and Science. Each college was partly autonomous, with its own graduation ceremony, and, for a time, its own t-shirts. Since then, the academic organization has been streamlined into three subject areas (Humanities/Writing, Math/Computer Science, and Science) with a single graduation ceremony.

Because of its size and age, Lancaster has seen numerous student groups and traditions arise; some of these can be seen below.

Courses offered

Lancaster has had traditionally been a hotspot for math and science courses. It is the only site to offer Number Theory, Theory of Computation, Data Structures and Algorithms, Selected Topics in Advanced Biology, and Selected Topics in Advanced Chemistry. Lancaster is one of two sites to offer History of Disease, Archaeology, and Paleobiology, and in 2001, it was the first site to offer Cryptology. Lancaster also has some strong humanities offerings, such as Ancient Greek and Etymologies, though it lacks the breadth of Carlisle in this regard.

Students and Organizations

Students

• Elizabeth Fong - 2001.1, 2002.1, 2003.1
• Daniel Ehrenberg - 2003.1
• Lisa Spitalewitz - 1996.2, 1997-1999.both. 2002.both RA.

Groups

• Digiclan
• LLRT
• Asian Mafia
• The Alcove

Traditions

• Site:Lancaster:Dance
• Bathrobes
• CTY Holidays
• Public Displays of Affection
• Passionfruit
• Sweet Transvestite Saturday aka Second Saturday
• Upside-down phones
• Huganomore (sp?)