Photo essay: Excited to be back on campus
The entire Skidmore community is enjoying the start of a 2021-22 academic year filled with dynamic courses, athletics competition, beloved traditions, and — most of all — the return of all students, staff, and faculty to campus.
“I cannot tell you how excited I am to welcome you back to campus,” President Marc C. Conner told students. “To see you on the athletic field, to see you and your clubs, to see you on campus — I just can't tell you how excited I am for that.”
The College continues to implement a robust series of COVID-19 measures, including masking indoors. But with 98% of employees and students vaccinated, opportunities for in-person gatherings — including New Student Convocation and Skidmore’s traditional Founder’s Day barbecue — are markedly different than last academic year.
Here are a few scenes from the start of the semester.
Perhaps no event illustrates Skidmore’s full return to campus better than Club Fair, Skidmore students’ vibrant annual opportunity to showcase their creativity and get involved in more than 100 student clubs.
Classes are fully in person this fall. Here, Xiaoshuo Hou, associate professor of sociology and Asian studies and associate chair of the Department of Sociology, speaks to students in her Sociological Perspectives class.
Associate Professor of Theater Eunice Ferreira runs through an icebreaker with students Will Carter ’23, Kieko Carvey ’22, and Anna Krechevsky ’22 during the first meeting of her Theater for Social Justice and Change class at Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theater.
The semester is offering a variety of opportunities for the Skidmore community to come together. President Marc Conner chats with Ayesha Domingo ’22 and other students at the annual Arts Quad Party, featuring live music, community art-making, and other activities.
Athletics competition is also underway, and dedicated fans are excited to cheer on the Thoroughbreds from the sidelines this season. Annabelle Oates '22 brings the ball up the field against WIlliams College.
Students are also benefiting from field trips. Senior Lecturer in French Tim Freiermuth (second from left) and students in his interdisciplinary course Terroir: Wine and The French Sense of Place recently visited Fossil Stone Farms, a local vineyard and winery, where they met with its owner Michael Spiak (right).
Not everybody is on campus: Students are studying in 17 different countries as part of Skidmore study-abroad programs. Students in Associate Professor of History Erica Bastress-Dukehart's Scribner Seminar are among 26 first-year students who are spending their first semester in London as part of Skidmore’s First-Year Experience in London program.
