User:Lukepf04
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Luke Farrell
Emperor of Session 2 Saratoga Springs 2017
I like you. I love you. I CTY you.
A Little Bit About Me
Hi. As you probably guessed it, my name is Luke. I have been going to CTY for three years now and it has been a great experience. I was at Mt. Holyoke for Baby CTY in 2013 and have gone to Skidmore in Saratoga Springs for the last two. I have had a lot of fun in my past years and why not I explain why. Let's start with Mt. Holyoke.
Baby CTY at Mount Holyoke
Course: United Nations and Advanced Geography: UNAG
Instructors: Elyse and Katy (TA)
Hallmates: Kyle, Nate, Nick, Tony, Jihoon, Mike, Jake, Daniel and Kevin
RA: Andrew
As my first year at CTY like many kids I was nervous. Being away from my parents for three weeks seemed like a good thing, but it was scary at first for me. Well I got there and it was a great environment. I remember my hall was very nice and there was a person from my home of Long Island (Let's Go Islanders). My RA was Andrew Kirkland and everyone was really friendly. However, the problem with Baby CTY why was well a lot of things (I didn't know these problems at first, but this is what they were).
- They didn't have many Canon songs. The only one really relevant to regular CTY was American Pie.
- You were escorted by an RA. Not like the freedom you have at regular CTY
And on and on
However, don't think that Baby CTY doesn't haven't certain things in Regular CTY. For example, when I was at Mount Holyoke, They had Casino Night and like I said dances, but it isn't what I would call the full CTY experience. But Saratoga Springs definitely is.
Saratoga CTY
Saratoga really is an unbelievable campus. Not only does it have a great history as a town, but also some exclusives at the site for CTY. The big one are the town trips, which are awesome. Whether it's Comic Depot, Ben & Jerry's (Vermonsters), or Starbucks (Yes, you heard me), there's something for everyone on the trips.
14.2 SAR
Course: International Politics: POLY
Instructors: Rupa and Amanda (TA)
Hallmates: Henry, Duncan, Avi, Greg, Suraag, Chris, Chris, Grayson, Kevin
RA: Mike
Well, as the same as Baby CTY, you really will not know that many people walking into it. I sure know I didn't. I had Mike Tedesco as my RA for the year and that hall included two emperors (Suraag Srinivas of that year and Duncan Freeman who is emperor of 16.2) and had International Politics (awesome course). When I went to the dances, I was very inexperienced with the traditional dances. (Tunak, Tunak, Tun, Time Warp) but the one I knew was American Pie. Thanks, Baby CTY!
15.2 SAR
Course: Logic: Principles of Reasoning LOGC
Instructors: Andrew and Evan (TA)
Hallmates: Johnathan, Janpal, David, Tyler, Derek, Daniel, Alvin, Cameron, Henry
RA: Dan
This year was a blast. I had Dan Bell's (States Rights!!!) Hall, and it was better than Mike's. Of course, in Dan's hall that year there was the Mad Spooner, but don't worry I was not it. It was actually very creepy though because you would go to sleep and then the next morning there were spoons everywhere. It was a lot easier at CTY this year considering being here before unlike the prior year.
16.2 SAR
Course: Fundamentals of Microeconomics: MICO
Instructors: Irakli and Yolanda (TA)
Hallmates: Albert, Kevin, Avi, Ky, Quincy, Janpal, Sachin, Chris, Ryan, Ben, Luke and Adway
RA: Peter
16.2 at Saratoga has got to be the best year I have had. My time was great. I did the lip sync at Casino Night with "Bicycle Race" and got to be the opening act at the Talent Show. Peter was a great RA, but he had a terrible collision during the staff v. Student Soccer game when he collided with Alejandro. He's alright now. My Microeconomics class was great, along with some of my hallmates above. Emily, Celine, Erika and Maiya you are all awesome and great. Irakli and Yolanda were the best instructors and to top it all off I became an Emperor along with Franz O'Hanna and next year will be the best year!!
17.2 SAR
Course: Philosophy of Mind: MIND
Instructors: Andrew and Olta (TA)
Hallmates: Riik, Peter, Andrew, Dorrian, Kyle, Gabriel, Andrew L., Andrew Q., Edward, Derek, William, Alan, Liam and Eric.
RA: Mike L.
My last year at Saratoga was another eventful and fantastic year. I was able to become Emperor and have an unbelievable time filled with Vermonsters, Gauntlets and Passionfruit sweatshirts and speeches. Philosophy of Mind was a tiny class with only 5 students, yet it was led by the legend of Andrew Higgins, with his 12th year at CTY. Dances and Socials were filled with jam packed music and good times. The cherry on top was that I got to meet the Executive Director of CTY, Dr. Elaine Tuttle Hansen and her husband Stan. I do hope that Saratoga will be able to stay open for many future CTYers to experience the wonders of Skidmore and the town of Saratoga Springs. I will no doubt visit and come back once again and 17.2 was an amazing way to end my student career at CTY.
To be continued (2020)....
My Birthday
July 31, 2000. What's so special about that day? Well
- It's my birthday and
- It's on CTY
That's why I normally went to session 2 for CTY. On my birthday I usually got something special from my hall or the site community itself. At Mt. Holyoke, Andrew and all the kids from the hall went into my room and threw paper confetti and then Andrew made them pick it up. Ha! Also at the end of the session, the dining hall made a cake with everyone's name on it that had a birthday during the session.
At Skidmore, Mike gave my cupcakes and he starting spraying silly string at me which, not only got over me, but the wall as well.
Dan's hall actually didn't do much, but the rest of CTY did. I got a Birthday card from Maeve Brammer who then made people sign it and give it to me. It was really nice. Also during the dance (coincidentally on my birthday that year) they all started singing happy birthday to me and I heard someone yell (I think it was Christophe) "Someone pick him up!" Thankfully, that did not happen.
2016 was not the most eventful birthday at CTY. I had not alerted my fellow campers in the days before because that day was also the Town Trip. They would be too focused on Vermonsters at the time, which I could completely understand. WE went all the way to Congress Park and then it started to rain. We headed back to Case Center and waited for about an hour before we could go back to the dorms. I still was able to get celebratory cupcakes from SRA Geoff and enjoy the day.
2017 was one of the best birthdays that I ever had. Being my last year, I made sure to let people know it was my birthday, turning the big 17. It had started with plenty of birthday singing on the quad. I had then gotten a lovely card from Daisy Fernandez and other things. My birthday also fell on the TAPS Frisbee Game. Although we had gotten blown out (8-4, blew a 3-0 lead), it was still a great experience playing in a Student-Staff game. The day ended with night quad and then more celebratory cupcakes which were shared with the entire hall.
