Freshman Traditions
“Unique Start”
| Anna Davis Sommerkamp Tuscaloosa, Al Fall 2018 |
Informant Data:
Anna Davis Sommerkamp was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 26, 2000. She has lived in Charlotte for her whole life. She attended Charlotte Country Day School for elementary, middle and high school. As a member of the class of 2022, she is currently studying Hospitality Management at the University of Alabama. Outside of her academics, Anna Davis enjoys shopping and hanging out with friends and family. Anna Davis is exceptionally talented at making organized lists, works part-time at the Buttercup store in Charlotte, and can make anyone’s day better. She is a member of the Kappa Delta sorority at Alabama.
Contextual Data:
Cultural Context:
The University of Alabama, Alabama, was established in 1820. Alabama is located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and is the state’s flagship school. On top of being the top football school in the country, the University of Alabama is also a research institution. There are currently has 33,305 undergraduates enrolled.
Social Context:
Alabama strays a little from the typical freshman experience with their large involvement in Greek life on campus. While the school still has some of the typical freshmen experiences, Greek life is an important aspect of incorporation into the school. The University of Alabama has other special traditions and rites of passages to welcome the freshman into the community.
Item:
Anna Davis’ introduction to college was unique that before she even began her college classes, she went through the sorority rush process. Rush is a stressful and tiring process, but it immediately helps incoming students make friends. The rush process keeps students busy and away from their rooms and gives them no time to think about home. After rush week, Anna Davis felt incorporated into her school. This process helped her make friends before classes even started and had people to hang out with in the dorms. Most of Alabama’s traditions for freshmen are through their Greek houses. There is a slight tradition that all the freshmen sit in the upper bowl student section for football games. One specific school wide tradition is that every game day there is a big tailgate with families and students on the quad. This is a tradition that Anna Davis heard about from her parents when they attended Alabama. Traditions like these make Alabama unique and a fun place to be.
Transcript:
“After I finished rush week, I felt incorporated into my school. I had made a friend group from the start. Once, I started classes it was nice to be able to come back to my dorm and hangout with my friends each day. The transition into college was very easy for me because through rush I made friends instantly.”
“They (traditions) are important because it is something that makes schools unique. Traditions that have been going on for a while are cool to learn about and they are all different at each school.”
Collector’s Comments:
Greek life is an important part of Alabama’s culture. Students start rushing sororities and fraternities before starting school their freshmen fall. This gives students an automatic group of friendly faces before stepping foot into their first class. While stressful, I think that this process helps with incorporation. Dartmouth is very different in that freshmen are banned for any Greek life for their first 6 weeks after arriving. This is supposed to help freshmen bond with their class, but it prevents them from feeling immediately incorporated into the Dartmouth community.
| Caroline K. Jones 19
Dartmouth College |