Student position
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 Session 2 in 2012.
Contents
History and purpose
The oldest student positions—including Lancaster Session 2'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 Session 2, 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 days of their earliest instantiations.
Student positions always have some associated responsibility or role, and are 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 respected the position is by the student body.
Students who hold the most respected positions are usually also the most respected members of the community, as they accord special status. The respect accorded to a position usually correlates with how old that position is. The Lancaster second session position of Duck, the most highly respected position, has been around since the early 90s.
There is no official process for the creation of new positions. Any student has the power to give a title and/or item to a willing recipient at Passionfruit or outside of it and declare that thing to be a position, regardless of others' approval. The test of whether that position becomes legitimate is whether it gains the respect of the students and stands the test of time. It is customary, however, to create a position only with the approval of currently respected position holders (the Trinity, for example).
Because of the ease of creating new positions, many new ones spring up each year, most of which eventually fail. There is a list of defunct positions (the ones the people bothered to document on RealCTY, anyway) included below.
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Lancaster
Lancaster, being one of the most tradition heavy sites, has the most positions of any site.
Leader Positions
Several positions accorded the most respect are given a higher class than the rest, and are regarded as the student leaders.
Session 1
The Trinity refers to the three most important positions at session 1.
- Father
- Son
- Holy Ghost
The Jester, while not part of the Trinity, is regarded as a leader position as well.
Session 2
The Pentinity refers to the four (formerly five) most important positions at session 2.
Other Positions
All other positions and passed down items are listed here in order of age.
Session 1
- Lanyard Stack
- Coconuts
- Stripper
- Documentator
- Blammo God
- Jack Flash
- Quotebook
- The Friend
- Cloak
- Shots
- The Savage
Session 2
- Emperor
- Fruitopia Bottle
- Caution Tape Cape
- Lorekeeper
- Documentator
- Blammo God
- Head Monk
- SOY
- Duct Tape Dress
- Quotebook
- King James
- Kiwi Backpack
- The Rascal
- Fanhammer
- Shots
- The Dave
Dead Positions
No one lives forever.
