Lanyard

Lanyards are loose, thin cloth bands to be worn around the necks (or on the person) of CTYers at all times. Lanyards hold various things such as room keys, student IDs, debit cards, fobs, or key cards. They are printed with the term JHU-CTY and the URL of the CTY website. Lanyards are given out by staff to campers on the first day.

Colors

The color of the campers' lanyards changes every year.

• 2008 - Neon Green
• 2007 - Neon Yellow
• 2006 - Yellow
• 2005 - Red
• 2004 - Sky Blue
• 2003 - Neon Yellow-Green
• 2002 - Red
• 2001 - Purple
• 2000 - Neon Green
• 1999 - Light Blue
• 1998 - Neon Orange
• 1997 - Navy Blue with yellow lettering
• 1996 - Yellow with blue lettering

In 1996, lanyards had "IAAY" printed on them. From 1997 to around 2001, lanyards had "CTY CAA IAAY" printed on them. "CAA" and "IAAY" were dropped by 2001 and replaced merely with the acronyms "CTY JHU." Lanyards are now printed with "CTY" and "JHU" as well as the official web site for CTY: "www.cty.jhu.edu."

Black Lanyards

Since 2003, black lanyards have been worn by RAs, instructors, TAs/LAs/PAs, and other staff members. These lanyards are often widely envied by campers, who have been known to try to take black lanyards from staff. Occasionally, at the Passionfruit, black lanyards are given to nevermores or nomores.

White Lanyards

In 2007, all staff members were given new white lanyards, much to the confusion and disdain of many of the veteran staff members. The white lanyards were a result of a typo (or misprint?) and will not appear again; they were meant to be black as usual, as evidenced by the return of black lanyards in 2008.

While most lanyards worn by the staff members turned into a murky gray by the end of the session, Art Frankel (CHEM.SAR.07.2) masterfully kept his white. His secret? Wear it around the collar of the shirt.

In an event unheard of at the time, John "Jarrison" Harrison (CTY.LAN.07) masterfully acquired not one, not two, not even three, but four white lanyards during his six week (double session) stay in Lancaster. In an act of pure chivalry,(and needless to say, manliness) Jarrison then "donated" one of his prized white lanyards to one Max Wang in exchange for a considerable discount (for free) on the Session 2 Alcove shirt.

Lanyard Swinging

Staff members can be strict about forcing campers to keep their lanyards on their necks (or at more lenient sites, somewhere visible on the body). Campers find it entertaining to take their lanyards off and swing them around; keys and fobs, or keycards, create a decent amount of momentum. RAs are very disapproving of this practice (which is reasonable, as students have been injured by flying or swinging keys), and often will reprimand campers found swinging their lanyards. Some campers retaliate by wearing their lanyards up around their ears, as belts, or woven as bracelets. This practice is also frowned upon by staff in stricter sites. On the last day, however, there is nothing stopping you from running around on the forbidden grass swinging your lanyard while singing at the top of your lungs.

An activity called Bizarro CTY allows you to swing your lanyard, along other things that are usually contraband.

Lancaster RA Frank Wang is notoriously amazing at detecting lanyard-swinging, even when the culprit is located in such impossible places, such as all the way across the quad, around a corner, or behind Frank Wang himself.

Re-use

Many CTYers bring lanyards from past summers back to their current site. All old lanyards are worn at the same time as their current lanyard. This is a sign of returning-student pride, and sometimes also a sign of seniority. Reused lanyards are either woven as bracelets, or worn around the neck with current lanyards (often braided together), or however the new lanyard is worn. RAs usually don't care what you do with your old lanyards, as long as you're not swinging them. You can wear them as bracelets, etc. without fear of reprimand.