Student position

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A student position is a role or title held by a CTYer during a CTY session (and often the year leading up to it). Positions are often held by nomores, and they are usually passed on to onemores at the end of each session. Most student positions are site-specific, and some are even session-specific—even those nominally shared between sites, such as the Passionfruit Emperor, tend to be interpreted differently by the different sites.

Positions are student-maintained traditions, although site administrators sometimes take it upon themselves to impose changes or restrictions, e.g., the renaming of Jesus to The Muse at Lancaster second session in 2012.

History and purpose

The oldest student positions—including Lancaster second session's Duck, the oldest position at any site—arose as a result of a nomore passing down some item to a younger, still-eligible student, in order to fill some role (say, the part of the Jester when acting out American Pie), or to keep the spirit of something alive the following year (say, a love of Monty Python). Over time, the passing down of these items has become more established, and some of these physical objects (or relics) and their associated roles have become part of the fabric of tradition at their home sites.

Modern student positions, which include both these older mainstays as well as newly-conceived roles, are very diverse in nature, but most still carry a role or vague set of responsibilities for the holder, as well as a physical relic. Lancaster's Jester, for instance, has (and wears) its relics of a jester hat and coat, and continues to act out the part in American Pie at each Dance.

Over time, these positions and relics have accumulated substantial renown, with the oldest ones typically held in the highest regard. Positions are almost always handed down by their holder at the end of session, most frequently during a Passionfruit speech, to a student returning the next year (though there are some exceptions, like the Emperor for Lancaster second session, which is determined during each session). Receiving a position is felt by many to be both a privilege and an honor. Nowadays, positions, especially the older ones, are typically passed to students who are leaders on campus or respected by the community, and who help to preserve tradition or to embody some other important aspect of CTY and its culture. The extent to which holding a position entails responsibility and leadership has increased tremendously since the earliest positions were—perhaps unwittingly—introduced.

Student positions generally have some associated responsibility or role, and are typically distinct from other relics which do not have a particular purpose (though they may be strongly symbolic).

Creating new positions

Positions are, for the most part, very loosely defined things, and how real they are is a function of how much the student body acknowledges and respects them. The respect accorded to a position usually corresponds to how old that position is. The Lancaster second session Holder of the Duck, the most highly regarded position, has been around since the early 90s.

There is no official process for the creation of new positions, and it could be argued that "creating a new position" is an inherently flawed notion. Any student has the power to give a title and/or item to a willing recipient at the Passionfruit or outside of it, and declare that thing to be a position, regardless of others' approval. The true test of whether that position has legitimacy is whether it gains the respect of the students and withstands the test of time.

Conventional wisdom might dictate that a new student position be created only with the support of a large group of students, or perhaps to fill a missing role recognized by the current holders of the oldest positions, but this wisdom is often disregarded. Due to the ease of creating new positions, as well as an overabundance of shameless egotism, many new ones spring up each year, most of which are ultimately lost. Some, but likely not all, of these defunct positions are documented alongside the surviving ones.

List of positions by site and session

Lancaster

See also: Other Lancaster Positions.

Lancaster, as one of the most tradition heavy sites, has the most positions of any site (and the greatest desire among its studentry to hold positions, which produces a great deal of shameless egotism). The two Lancaster sessions, however, have almost totally distinct sets of positions; the Jester alone is shared between sessions, but in recent years, even the Jester has two distinct sets of relics.

Over time, both sessions at Lancaster have converged upon a trio of positions known as the Holy Trinity, with that of first session modeled after second session's older instantiation (which has, in turn, become the Pentinity). The members of the Trinity hold some of the most well-respected positions for their session.

Trinity (Session 2)

See also: Trinity (Session 2).
Position Year est. Relic Current holder
Holder of the Duck 1991 The Duck Samantha Pancoe
Muse, formerly Jesus 1999 Duct tape staff Muskaan "Smiles" Garg
Fiend, formerly Satan 2004 Unicorn staff Caroline Shea
Jester 2001 Jester hat and coat Ethan Pan
Duct Tape Suit Wearer 2002 Duct tape suit none (lost)

Trinity (Session 1)

See also: Trinity (Session 1).

The relics of first session's Trinity are all Turkey Hill mugs, or grails.

Position Year est. Current holder
Father 2007 Chloe Kekedjian
Son 2007 Lily Dondoshansky
Holy Ghost 2007 Oliver Pennington

While the Jester is not part of first session's Trinity, it is the oldest first session position, established in 1997, and predates second session's Jester. The first session Trinity also serves as its Passionfruit Emperors and Empresses, whereas second session's Emperor and Empress are separate.

Other first session positions

Position Year est. Relic Role
Blammo God unknown (< 2007) Stuffed yellow spoon, named Gregory organizes Blammo games
Stripper 2004 Short, grey plaid skirt leads the CTY Chant; organizes RHPS
Coconuts unknown (< 2012) Empty coconut shells leads the Monk Walk; held by a onemore
Jack Flash 2008 Glowsticking chain organizes glowstickers; plays Jack Flash in American Pie
Quotebook 2008 A quotebook writes stuff down

Other second session positions

Session 1

Session 2

Dead Positions

No one lives forever.

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