Princeton

( Julie is currently working on this page, since it was previously a stub. It will take a while to complete, so bear with me (ahhh bear!!). Feel free to add, just know that it is not yet complete.)

The Princeton site was created in 2006 for students who had aged out of the CTY programs. The JHU CTY program has been tweaking the site every year, and actually listening to students, so as to improve the quality of the new site. Only a handful of CTYers continue on to the Princeton program, but with the recent improvements in staff and the overall program, it should now be seen as a wonderful choice after CTY.

Princeton Courses

Many, if not all, of the courses involve work in the various computer labs at the University. During the session, in whichever classes essays are written, the essays will need to be saved on the instructor's flash drive, or emailed. However, as the internet doesn't work on all of the computers in the basement computer lab, and there is only one flash drive being passed around, this CTYer recommends bringing your own Flash drive.

Global Politics: Human Rights and Justice

Global Politics, or simply GPOL, had four sections in 2009, three sections in 2010. Each class is structured slightly differently, and approaches the issues of human rights in a different manner, but all note the history of human rights and human rights violations, and later move on to wrestle with the overwhelmingly large question of the role human rights should take in a nation's foreign policy. This issue is addressed through simulations, debates, and class discussions on current and recent human rights issues, such as torture, genocide, and relief efforts.

Human Nature and Technology

Daniel Estrada taught section A in 2008 and 2009 with Jon Lawhead, also from Lancaster, as a TA. Section B was taught by Michele Merritt and Diana. In 2010, section A was taught by Jon Lawhead with Katie McIntyre as a TA, and section B was taught by Zach Abrahams and Danesh Singh. This is a favorite among students, and the only one that doesn't take existence for granted. During the first week, students learn basic philosophies of the mind. After establishing the fact that we don't know anything, they introduce the idea that all technology changes our definition of ourselves. Students study philosophers from Ancient Greece to those still going out for a drink with certain instructors. This course is challenging and definitely up to CTY standards, and be prepared for a lot of writing (three technically 4-page essays total, which usually end up being about 2.5 pages and Jon doesn't care). It is this CTYer's 2nd favorite class she has taken. (It culminated with a viewing of Wall.E. <3)

"If this were an honest lesson plan, it wouldn't contain much but 'dick around and watch videos about robots.'" - Jon Lawhead, Jun 16, 2010, on Twitter. To the disappointment of the class, we only spent most of the time "dicking around and watching videos." The rest of the time was spent in very interesting philosophical discussion, reading, or writing some long essays. Thank you Jon and Katie, you guys were awesome, and I'd love to have you guys as instructors again.

In 2011, Daniel Estrada taught section B with Patrick O'Donnell as a TA. Section A was taught by Jon Lawhead with (not sure so I'll be back with the TA's name later). The class was similar to in previous years, and it covered a broad range of philosophers from Aristotle to Heidegger. The first week focused on defining "human nature" and "technology" and questioning the concepts of dualism and functionalism. From there, the course branched out to include discussions of the mind, AI, tools and the influence of the Internet.The class is challenging, but not because of any extensive writing assignments. Rather, the class forces students to think outside of usual parameters and examine how technology influences the world and the soul, although according to the class, humans don't have souls. Dan was a fantastic teacher who was beloved by students for his humor and Starcraft skills.

Politics and Film

Unlike some of the other classes at CTY Princeton, Politics and Film only has one section. Since its creation, it has been taught by Mara Drogan, and for the past two years, the TA has been Ian Howland (aka Spider-man, whose lanyard Arthur Dashan was able to acquire in 2010). The class is far more writing than you would expect based on its name. By the end of the session, you need to have a minimum two essays completed about any two of the movies that you see during the session, but it's preferred that you finish three. The movies and clips are really interesting for the most part, and you can spend lots of time on Facebook when in the computer lab instead of writing your essays. Ian is a very boss TA and gives you more break time than Mara. Overall, the class is a good one.

Location

The Princeton site, is of course, at Princeton University. A horribly complicated campus. Because it is so easy to get lost around campus, students are not allowed to wander/explore on their own, as well as for other obvious reasons to do with helicopter parents and the whole RA eyesight/earshot thing. (Although this rule was very relaxed at Princeton).

Dorms

CTY PRN used Henry and Foulke in 2009. They are next to each other and are connected with an archway. Students are allowed to hang out on the quad outside of these buildings and around the archway during unstructured time. One building houses all the female halls, and the other houses the men. The girls' dorm also houses the health office, the main office, and all of the administrative offices. They are not air conditioned. Bring fans. The dorms have suites and singles with dressers, bookcases, desks, and closets. Some rooms have balconies, and all rooms have windows that open and come with screens to let cool air in and keep bugs out. Most bathrooms are okay. Third floor entrance one didn't have doors on their stalls, instead there were shower curtains that didn't quite do the job. Bring shower shoes, and be prepared for some awkward early morning bathroom incidents.

As of 2010, they students used the dorms Campbell and Joline. BRING A FAN, there is no air conditioning. Boys were in Joline, and had bathrooms interspersed throughout the building and laundry machines in the basement. Girls, however, had bathrooms in the basement and no laundry machines. Once a week they could be accompanied by an RA to laundry machines halfway across campus. Thanks, Princeton.

In 2011, students were housed in Henry and Foulke halls. The boys, laundry and offices were in Henry and the girls were in Foulke. Girls' and boys' laundry days alternated so that girls had greater access to laundry than in 2010. The dorms were not too bad, but on the third floor it was too hot and I highly recommend bringing a fan.

Dining Hall

The Rocky dining hall is a hike from the dorms. Students are allowed to leave their dorms at 8 o'clock to walk to the dining hall. It is down the street from the droms, past the UStore, under an archway, up some stairs, and across a quad. The dining hall resembles the Great Hall at Hogwarts. There are long tables to sit at up and down the room and two circular tables. One sat at by the Oval Table Mafia. The food is decent, although frequently mislabeled, such as the Potato Puffs that were labeled as Eggplant Parmigiana one morning. There is a salad bar, pb&j station, fresh fruit, hot meals, cereal, a table of rotating desserts,and different flavors of ice cream at every meal. One of the favorite ice creams was Passionfruit Sorbet, that only lasted a day, for obvious reasons. Also, due to some legal precautions, signs are somewhat frequently hilarious. One morning, there was a sign that said, "Bacon (Contains Pork)"

The food sucked most days (most people would agree), although some things were truly delicious (such as general tso's chicken). Deserts were wonderful, and so was the ice cream.

As of 2010, the dining hall was shared with about six other camps at a time (mostly sports, but also the infamous JSA), making it very very crowded. Some of us (The 2010 Hipsters) managed to sit in the back room for a full week before getting kicked because it was supposedly "reserved" for the ID Tech camp (12 year old boys learning Comp Sci.)

Also in 2010, many bystanders were given a small show in the middle of their meal by our very own Daniel Ochoa, with his heroic shout, "I bet the neighbors know my name!" This occurred several times in the session, as well as at the last dance. Thank you, Dan, you crazy bastard. We CTY you.

Classrooms

All students have class (as well as Opening and Closing Ceremonies) in McCosh Hall. The building is abnormally cold in some classrooms, especially in the basement (dungeon) in which the GPOL classes were held. But in other classrooms, the air conditioning was not working for much of the first week. The classrooms were a bit of a walk from the dining hall, but it was a nice time to wake up, talk to friends, and walk extremely slowly to make morning classes a bit shorter. All classes have lunch at 12, which makes the morning class a tad long, especially when you don't get much sleep the night before...

McCosh 50, the location of Opening Ceremonies, the Talent Show, and Closing Ceremonies, was also the room in which several of the class scenes for Transformers 2 were filmed. This is not in any way an endorsement of the movie, just an interesting fact.

Dances/Weekend Nights

Princeton has three dances, one on each Friday night and one on the last Thursday. The dances were held in a multi-cultural house a few blocks away from the dorms. So this walk was not fun when wearing heels for the dance. It was nice though, walking back from the dance because it would be nice and cool outside, so you would be at a comfortable temperature by the time you got back to the dorms.

In 2010, two of the dances were held in Forbes Hall and one somewhere else which the students liked better, but for some reason the staff didn't.

Casino night was held on a Saturday night in another house a walk away from the dorms, past the WaWa that some students snuck out to in 2009. Said students returned in 2010 saying that it really wasn't worth it, so this was not repeated.

The talent show was held on the other Saturday night in McCosh 50. It featured such memorable acts as JC's slam poetry, Dom fighting a bear, Kyle's hall being manly men, the Princeton incarnation of Monty Python Madness, and the Hip-Hop class' performance. The 2010 talent show was entitled "the Blammies," and was won by Eli Turner for his amazing poetry. You should all bow down to him.

Staff

Main Office

The main office staff was actually quite wonderful. On many occasions, I needed to use the internet and copier, and they were always willing to help. They also had a water cooler that they always let me use.

Boyd

Boyd is one of the full time employees of the JHU CTY program, and he was one of the founders of the Princeton site. He began working for CTY over the summers teaching Crafting the Essay and Pop Cult. He fell in love with the students, and found himself working year-round with the program. He had taught high school and college English, and he says that his favorite group to teach were the CTYers. His love for the program comes across whenever you talk to him. (Which I suggest you do) He loves the traditions and the quirky students. For example, he asked two students to talk about their experience at CTY at closing ceremonies, Alex Pressman and Julie, and he introduced Alex by commenting on the pretty floral sundress he wore on Drag Day, while he introduced Julie as the God of Blammo. Boyd has also said that he promotes the return of CTYers as RAs, TAs, and Instructors, which busts the myths that CTY somehow discourages the return of students as staff.

Health Office

For obvious reasons many students avoided going to the Health Office whenever possible. If a student were found to have a fever, they would be sent home to recover. (aka torture!!!) So students usually went for things like bee stings and sprains and for medication. During these visits, the Health Office staff supplied pretty cups of cold water, and... CANDY! Yes, they gave you candy. How sweet! Anywho, the only problem with the Health Office was its location: the basement of the girls' halls. This meant that boys going for morning medications would have to be fob'ed in by RAs (who were usually just waking up, and often were outside after the students went for meds) or had to wait for a girl to come down for her meds. For the girls though, it was quite convenient.

RA's

There were two returning RA's this year, JC and Katrina. Students and RAs at Princeton often have a much friendlier relationship than students and RAs at regular CTY, probably because of the smaller age difference. It was not uncommon for students and RAs to sit together at lunch, etc.

• JC- There has been a religion created around the awesomeness of JC. He de-mined Cambodia in Middle School. 'Nuff said. He got accepted into both Stanford University and the Juilliard School with full rides. At the age of 16 he visited the Maasai of the Serengeti, and he's climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, among other extremely impressive feats. He is currently taking a year off from school to work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. He also writes amazing poetry. He was the SRA for 2010, and he is an inspiration, an amazing man.
• James- Went to Carlisle as a student. He is 19, but he is going to be a senior at Harvard. Another fabulous RA. He was the DJ for all of the dances, and made sure to play lots of current music, some favorites, and of course, the high holy canon at every dance. He also taught students how to rave, and made sure to play enough techno so that a circle could be formed and ravers could, well rave.
• Dom- Went to both Lancaster and Carlisle as a student. As an R.A. Dom had quite a devoted following among students, who enjoyed writing songs about him, throwing grass at him, and in other ways violating his personal space. Dom is also one of the only people who knows how to defend himself against bears.
• J.B. - Probably the most mellow man on the planet, and one of the 5 final Blammo winners. During the school year he is actually a student at Princeton, and graced his hall with his presence in 2010.
• Josh- popularized the game of ASA among students!
• ...And of course, SRA Brian "Guys, turn your lights off!" Bishop.

Activities

In 2010, we had two activities blocks a day: first a daily activity, then a weekly activity. The daily activities included henna tattoos, frisbee, arts and crafts, mafia, swimming, and occasionally things like silent football, Best activity ever, Worst activity ever, and Fun, which we are not allowed to discuss. Weekly activities included quiet time (a favorite, because it basically meant an hour and a half of free time), ultimate frisbee, scrap-booking/slideshow work, manipulating objects (glowstringing and contact juggling!), and JC's spoken word workshop.

Dances

• The dances had refreshments. These usually consisted of cookies, chips, sprite, soda, diet soda, and water. Which was a very nice change from Lancaster dances, which didn't even have water other than the water fountain.
• During the dances, a nicely air conditioned room played decent movies, like Jurassic Park and Harry Potter 5.
• James Fish was the DJ for every dance. He is a CTY Carlisle alum, so he understood the necessity to play the Canon at every dance. He played a lot of hip hop, but that is unavoidable because that's what teenagers nowadays apparently like to listen to. But favorites were thrown in that everyone could dance to.
• Some RA's patrolled the dance floor with bright flashlights, or spied on young couples who left the dance floor for some alone time. Other, much more awesome R.A.'s simply cracked jokes, and otherwise let us young adults be the young adults that we are, particularly at the last dance. Thank you Clay, among the rest of you awesome people, for being reasonable and respectful, as well as pretty funny.
• The dance was held in two different locations in 2010: The second location had a much larger dance floor, and was considered to be nicer by many. I personally liked both locations.

It is generally agreed that the first dance in 2010 was a disaster. The DJ played exactly three canon: Cotton-Eyed Joe, Stairway to Heaven and American Pie, in that order. The rest was hip-hop. It was DJed by one of the RA's who had never been to CTY before. Many students complained, however, and the next two were greatly improved and actually really awesome :). Word of advice for future CTY Princetoners: ask around first week for who the DJ will be, find them, and plaster them with canon.

Sleepovers

• Sleepovers were legal on Friday nights for girls, and Saturday nights for boys. During sleepovers, students were allowed to order pizza and wings from the nearby Papa John's. Illegal sleepovers abounded, such that an entire hall's worth of guys lived in the same room for two weeks, and nobody cared. Yes, I'm referring to the Man Cave.
• Many students liked to order pizza and chinese food to their dorms even on nights when it wasn't legal. This was much easier for boys, as the girls' building housed the administration and health offices.
• Another late-night activity favored by some students was sneaking out to the nearby WaWa to get sandwiches or whatnot. Often, students surprisingly did not get caught.
• On the last night in 2009, DRL Allie legalized inter-hall sleepovers (still single sex, but you could sleep in any room in the building.

Mandatory Fun

Tri-Muggle Tournament

Interestingly enough, this was actually nonmandatory. Students had the option to sit out and watch others go through such fun activities as the dizzy bat, hunting blindfolded for a penny in a tub of jello, running around within a square in lines of four in an imitation of a dragon. (The way to win this event was to grab the other dragon's tail, which was a flag held by the last member of each chain.)

Pretty much what this boiled down to, however, was sitting on the grass for three and a half hours watching other people make fools of themselves. So only slightly more entertaining than actually going and looking stupid yourself.

Casino Night

Casino Night, a tradition at several CTY sites, travelled over to Princeton. The first Saturday of the session, the students and staff travel to a dining hall other than Rocky for casino games. A marriage booth is available for the cost of $20 (in casino money). Any CTYer who ran out of money and wished to get more need only approach one of the Godfathers (RAs and staff members) for a task to complete.

As always, a movie option is offered for those uninterested in taking part in the games. Also available was a karaoke room.

Scavenger Hunt

Another fun weekend activity was the Scavenger Hunt, an event which pretty much had CTY students running around with their halls and grabbing random strangers from the campus in order to have them sing "Bah Bah Black Sheep," recognize the fact that the students lying in weird shapes on the ground ACTUALLY spelled out CTY, or being forced to listen to students ask for directions in what usually turned out to be an 'orrible British accent. There were also noncreeperish activities, such as getting a CTY shirt off Boyd's back. He had only two, which meant many groups were disappointed. (One group went so far as to take their own CTY shirt, put it on Boyd's back, then take it off, a very innovative solution.)

Also on the list were such things as finding a four-leaf clover, a bird feather, a business card, a map, and a flying cow. Yes, a flying cow.

There were several prizes for winning the Scavenger Hunt, such as an extra trip into town and candy.

Similarly to the Tri-Muggle Tournament, students were given the option of sitting out. However, if their hall won a prize, they would be denied a share.

A major point that made this different from the Tri-Muggle Tournament was that sitting out no longer came with the entertainment of watching people running around doing stupid things, so fewer people tend to choose that option.

The Scavenger Hunt ends at the Fountain, which halls must find for themselves within the time limit. If they do not arrive there before time is up, they are disqualified. The scavenger hunt's ending at the fountain was fun, because the students were all really hot from running around scavenging so they all jumped in to the fountain fully clothed. The wet students were then banned from participating in the next part of mandatory fun, watching a movie in the science building, because they were wet.

Kyle's hall ended up winning the scavenger hunt by a very large margin. Their domination was aided by the fact that they found exactly 42 fire hydrants (each fire hydrant found was worth one point), although only 20 were counted.

Things We Like/Traditions Migrating To Princeton

Talking about fisting is mandatory at every meal, and forbidden at any other time.

HTEC-A liked Ninja, and we played extensively. Especially in the water fountain. That is, until the police came to shut us down (second time that session!)

Card Games

They were played a lot. Mostly,

• President (a.k.a. Asshole)
• B.S.
• B.S. Poker
• E.R.S.

One Card Millard

• Rule 1: You're not allowed to discuss the rules.
• Rule 2: There is no rule 2.
• Rule 3: You are not allowed to be frustrated by the rules.

Blammo

For all you Lancasterians, Princeton does blammo. In 2010 is was presided over by Race Archibold and Benjamin Boult. The game was intense. On the morning of Passionfruit, 8 people remained. Two dropped their spoons and ran for their lives and one was eliminated through a silly voice competition. I believe that left 5 finalists, whom all became God. (Correct me if I'm wrong, my memory is failing.)

In 2011, AJ Franchino, Ian MacArthur and Bethia Kwak presided over blammo. On the morning of Passionfruit, there were approximately 16 players still in the game. Two had forgotten their spoons in the dorms or did not have their entire spoon on them and were eliminated immediately. A few more were eliminated by a "Simon Says" game, and more still by a contest to see who could balance the spoon on their nose. The final six were subjected to a Plank contest, which eliminated one player to leave a final five winners (whose names will be posted soon).

Days

• Mastication Monday

Celebrated by giving and receiving bites that tended to leave bruises until the next monday.

• Touchy Tuesday or Platonic Make Out With Your Friends Tuesday

Self explanatory

• Whack-Off Wednesday

Again, the name says it all. Just do it subtly, if not in private. *coughRachelandPensandHolesduringClasscough*

• Free High Five Thursday

High Fives! And it won't cost you a penny!

• Free Hug Friday

Cause you just can't get enough hugs at CTY!

• Casual Sex Saturday

...Elbow Sex.

• S&M Sunday

A warm up for Monday. Also, the practice of leaving welts on others with spoons.

Life Stories

Asking staff to tell the story of their entire life. If they refused to tell their story, it would be questioned out of them eventually. No subtlety necessary.

The Mancave

The Mancave is perhaps the single greatest thing that has ever befallen upon Princeton University. It is both righteous and berserk. It is both Heavenly, and Satan-like. The Mancave was created during the first week in the summer of 2010 by Jeff Baird's hall. The founding members included Arthur the Sexy Russian, James Carino, Evan Accardi, Jhoh, Jimmyjames, and Henry Wang. Other members later joined (such as the Lax Bros). No one other than the members of the Mancave truly know what went on in the Mancave. There may or may not have been multiple dudes sleeping shirtless on one mattress. There may or may not have been granny porn on one of the member's iPad. There are many legends surrounding the Mancave. One such legend is that in the middle of the night, Jimmyjames would wake up, lick somebody's toe, and then go back to sleep. There were countless pizza boxes everywhere. The members of the Mancave ordered only the Godliest of PIzzas - Papa Johns Cheese and Pepperoni. In case you do not yet understand, the Mancave was more holy than a pope who just shot with an AK-47. The members of the Mancave were absolute daredevils as well. On the final night of glorious CTY, most members did not even sleep. A few members *cough*such as Arthur*cough* drank multiple Monster Energy Drinks, 5 hour energies, and caffeine pills, and as a result could not remember half the night the next day. DO NOT MESS WITH THESE GUYS. One more thing must be mentioned about the Mancave. The members of the Mancave are all truly God-like in appearance. If one were to look straight at a naked Mancaver, one would go completely blind from the beauty of the Mancaver's body. What has become of the Mancave now? It has begun to spread like a deadly virus. Not only will it be in Princeton in the summer of 2011 thanks to founding member Evan Accardi, but it will also spread to wherever Arthur the Sexy Russian RA's. It is becoming an indestructible force of Sexiness and Perfection. Men turn dark red with fury out of jealousy of the members of the Mancave. Women scream out of joy when they see members of the Mancave. The mancave is, and always will be, all that is perfect in our world.

Princeton Passionfruit

In 2009, the Princeton Passionfruit adopted a combination of the styles of Passionfruit at Lancaster, Carlisle, and Siena. To reflect this, Passionfruit was presided over by two emperors: Rachel Hall (Carlisle) and Julie Leghorn (Lancaster), and an empress: Johnine Licht (Siena).

2010's Passionfruit was held at an ungodly 5:30am and was organized by Logan Phillips. It featured many an emotional speech, and every single R.A. present.

Rachel Hall

"When I first thought about coming to Princeton for CTY this year, I was a little skeptical. I'd spent four years on the same campus with the same people, laughing at the same inside jokes. And then I got here, and...well, honestly, it was pretty much what I feared. I didn't really see anyone I considered REAL CTYers, and it upset me. But the thing is...I was wrong. There ARE real CTYers here, and not just the kids right next to me. So many of you guys ARE real CTYers. Maybe not as insane, but that's okay. So...

• To Real CTYers.
• To being up all night at laughing at things that really shouldn't be funny.
• To my hall.
• To Brynn.
• To BANANA, Little Cabin in the Woods, Center for Thank You, "working" in the library, and waffles.
• To random dance parties.
• To grass.
• To bears and zombies.
• To Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
• To being force fed.
• To never being quite a nomore or a nevermore.
• To not saying goodbye.
• To life, to love, to CTY.

I love CTY and I love the Passionfruit." --7/17/09

Julie Leghorn

Like Rachel, I had spent five sessions at the same site, one of the more tradition-heavy sites, but my friend from Lancaster who had gone to Princeton convinced me to go. At Princeton, I had a great time with the friends I made, like Rachel and the Oval Table Mafia, and the RA's and Staff. The staff was much more willing to work with me than the Lancaster staff was. This was most likely due to the fact that Lancaster was worried about their bosses in Baltimore, while the Princeton site is actually run by one of the original CTY staff, who works full time in Baltimore. The only real problem I had was that I did not get along very well with my hall. Because of this, I worked with the administration to allow interfloor sleepovers for the last weekend. And I think that the one thing that CTYers from Lancaster Carlisle (and other traditional CTY sites) should be aware of is the fact that Princeton is a CAA level site. Meaning that CTYers are in the minority, with a lot of CAAers who aren't necessarily used to the workload of CTY. This was slightly annoying because they did not have the same values in CTY. I got the impression that to them, they were at summer camp and that had to deal with the courses. Whereas CTYers are usually going to CTY for the course, throwing themselves into it, and the people are just the cherry on top. My overall evaluation of Princeton is that it is overall wonderful. But don't expect it to be very similar to CTY. It is a different but still wonderful entity.