From the 200+ student organizations to the outdoors, Carleton students are never at a loss for something interesting to do. Ask other parents about how their students keep themselves entertained.
Hope you are enjoying Spring and planning for the upcoming high school graduation ceremonies! It feels like it was just a few days ago that Ethan, our son who is a freshman at Carleton, had his graduation ceremony.
Ethan had heard great things about Carleton from his high school counselor and others about the strong academics, great teaching, and friendly community. He had enjoyed the campus visit during his junior year in high school and liked the college town feel of Northfield and the outdoor opportunities presented by the Arb. He, however, at the time didn’t personally know anyone who had studied at Carleton and only had a vague sense of how college life would be at Carleton day-to-day.
Carleton has been fantastic so far in practice and Ethan is having a wonderful freshman year. The teaching has been excellent, living up to the reputation. The professors do know students by face and name. Ethan thinks it is cool that he sometimes runs into one of his professors in the gym and the professor recognizes him and says hello. Speaking of the gym, working out has been one of the activities Ethan has been engaged in throughout the year both for fun and fitness. Sometimes he goes to the gym by himself and sometimes he goes there with a friend.
The community has been very accepting and inclusive. Ethan was pleasantly surprised how encouraging the community has been towards trying out new things such as clubs and activities. As an example, when Ethan was trying out bouldering at Carleton’s bouldering cave, a more experienced student voluntarily took the time to offer help and advise. In the Rec Center, in addition to bouldering, there is gym, basketball, and track among other things.
Carleton offers many opportunities for outdoor and indoor activities. Ethan loves to run and hike in the Arb which is one of his favorite aspects of the Carleton campus. He has been enjoying playing soccer indoors during the winter and with the arrival of spring he has been playing in the outdoor field. Ethan started with intramural soccer and there are intramural options at Carleton for most sports the student might be interested in. Later on, he started playing club soccer.
Ethan has been taking volleyball for his PE class since he hadn’t played much volleyball before and is having fun learning a new sport. There are other sports options to take for PE as well. PE teachers are considered as faculty members at Carleton and this type of PE program is apparently fairly unique to Carleton.
The Carleton dorms themselves have many spots for kicking back. Sometimes Ethan hangs out in the game room of his dorm, Cassat Hall, and plays foosball or ping pong with friends. Goodhue’s SuperLounge is apparently a popular spot and he goes there sometimes with friends. It turns out that Carleton has its own movie theater, Weitz Cinema, and Ethan goes there sometimes on Friday or Saturday evenings to watch his favorite genres of movies.
Northfield is a safe and charming town and the downtown is only a short 10 minutes walk from the campus. Ethan has been able to easily walk to the shops and restaurants there when needed even during winter months. The downtown has a fairly decent selection of good restaurants including excellent sandwich, pizza, and coffee places and even well rated Mexican and Indian restaurants.
Overall, Ethan has had a fun freshman year experience at Carleton this year both inside and outside the classroom including some volunteering. He and we have been strongly recommending Carleton to friends and family.
Our son Perry also found the community at Carleton to be very accepting and inclusive. Within weeks after the start of his Freshman year, he had begun to learn how to juggle (yes, Juggling can be taken for PE credit) and found a welcome community of enthusiasts. Already a musician (drummer), he also in his first year has been able to join the Carleton Jazz band as well as a West African drum ensemble, at the same time starting a rock band with two other classmates and signing up for juried drum lessons. We'd worried he might not be able to get that much of his music passion fulfilled in the early stages of his time at Carleton, but his experience has been excellent. We were very excited that his new band competed in Battle of the Bands at the Cave last weekend. Perry has also become a DJ at the radio station (KRLX).
Our daughter Jocelyn has absolutely loved her first year at Carleton as well!
After a fun-filled freshman orientation Jocelyn was off to classes and exploring Northfield. Her freshman A&I seminar was only 16 students with the most wonderful professor (who is assigned as her faculty advisor until she chooses a major); the class took at least one field trip, introduced students to the writing center and guided them well as they began their college studies.
Within a few weeks, Jocelyn was telling us about checking out lots of school clubs (some stuck, some didn’t) and getting a campus job. She developed traditions of workouts with friends, long walks in the Arb for study breaks, and many movie nights. Carleton has activities going on all the time (check out the Instagram!), so there’s always something to do, like making smores on the islands, or watching her friends compete in varsity games. The students take advantage of author talks in the local independent bookshop, and at the Northfield library in addition to the fabulous speakers that Carleton brings to campus.
Jocelyn has bonded with her professors in a way that was unexpected to us, but we had heard about. These professors have served as mentors and have not only taught Jocelyn, but also cooked dinners with her, given advice on how to plan classes and suggested other courses. She’s also just been accepted to go to Mexico next winter break with her Spanish professor and a small group of Carleton students. It’s wonderful that students have options for full terms and also shorter trips abroad.
Now that her first year is coming to a close, we are thrilled and amazed at what an incredible fit Carleton has been. Jocelyn has worked hard and excelled, made incredible friends, and pushed herself outside her comfort zone. And she has left a lot of the Arb unexplored, so there’s more discovery for the years ahead.
As you get ready to make the move to Northfield, you may have many questions about move-in (especially if you’re flying instead of driving). Carleton makes it easy – feel free to reach out with any questions!
Questions and Comments
Hello parents,
Hope you are enjoying Spring and planning for the upcoming high school graduation ceremonies! It feels like it was just a few days ago that Ethan, our son who is a freshman at Carleton, had his graduation ceremony.
Ethan had heard great things about Carleton from his high school counselor and others about the strong academics, great teaching, and friendly community. He had enjoyed the campus visit during his junior year in high school and liked the college town feel of Northfield and the outdoor opportunities presented by the Arb. He, however, at the time didn’t personally know anyone who had studied at Carleton and only had a vague sense of how college life would be at Carleton day-to-day.
Carleton has been fantastic so far in practice and Ethan is having a wonderful freshman year. The teaching has been excellent, living up to the reputation. The professors do know students by face and name. Ethan thinks it is cool that he sometimes runs into one of his professors in the gym and the professor recognizes him and says hello. Speaking of the gym, working out has been one of the activities Ethan has been engaged in throughout the year both for fun and fitness. Sometimes he goes to the gym by himself and sometimes he goes there with a friend.
The community has been very accepting and inclusive. Ethan was pleasantly surprised how encouraging the community has been towards trying out new things such as clubs and activities. As an example, when Ethan was trying out bouldering at Carleton’s bouldering cave, a more experienced student voluntarily took the time to offer help and advise. In the Rec Center, in addition to bouldering, there is gym, basketball, and track among other things.
Carleton offers many opportunities for outdoor and indoor activities. Ethan loves to run and hike in the Arb which is one of his favorite aspects of the Carleton campus. He has been enjoying playing soccer indoors during the winter and with the arrival of spring he has been playing in the outdoor field. Ethan started with intramural soccer and there are intramural options at Carleton for most sports the student might be interested in. Later on, he started playing club soccer.
Ethan has been taking volleyball for his PE class since he hadn’t played much volleyball before and is having fun learning a new sport. There are other sports options to take for PE as well. PE teachers are considered as faculty members at Carleton and this type of PE program is apparently fairly unique to Carleton.
The Carleton dorms themselves have many spots for kicking back. Sometimes Ethan hangs out in the game room of his dorm, Cassat Hall, and plays foosball or ping pong with friends. Goodhue’s SuperLounge is apparently a popular spot and he goes there sometimes with friends. It turns out that Carleton has its own movie theater, Weitz Cinema, and Ethan goes there sometimes on Friday or Saturday evenings to watch his favorite genres of movies.
Northfield is a safe and charming town and the downtown is only a short 10 minutes walk from the campus. Ethan has been able to easily walk to the shops and restaurants there when needed even during winter months. The downtown has a fairly decent selection of good restaurants including excellent sandwich, pizza, and coffee places and even well rated Mexican and Indian restaurants.
Overall, Ethan has had a fun freshman year experience at Carleton this year both inside and outside the classroom including some volunteering. He and we have been strongly recommending Carleton to friends and family.
Our son Perry also found the community at Carleton to be very accepting and inclusive. Within weeks after the start of his Freshman year, he had begun to learn how to juggle (yes, Juggling can be taken for PE credit) and found a welcome community of enthusiasts. Already a musician (drummer), he also in his first year has been able to join the Carleton Jazz band as well as a West African drum ensemble, at the same time starting a rock band with two other classmates and signing up for juried drum lessons. We'd worried he might not be able to get that much of his music passion fulfilled in the early stages of his time at Carleton, but his experience has been excellent. We were very excited that his new band competed in Battle of the Bands at the Cave last weekend. Perry has also become a DJ at the radio station (KRLX).
Our daughter Jocelyn has absolutely loved her first year at Carleton as well!
After a fun-filled freshman orientation Jocelyn was off to classes and exploring Northfield. Her freshman A&I seminar was only 16 students with the most wonderful professor (who is assigned as her faculty advisor until she chooses a major); the class took at least one field trip, introduced students to the writing center and guided them well as they began their college studies.
Within a few weeks, Jocelyn was telling us about checking out lots of school clubs (some stuck, some didn’t) and getting a campus job. She developed traditions of workouts with friends, long walks in the Arb for study breaks, and many movie nights. Carleton has activities going on all the time (check out the Instagram!), so there’s always something to do, like making smores on the islands, or watching her friends compete in varsity games. The students take advantage of author talks in the local independent bookshop, and at the Northfield library in addition to the fabulous speakers that Carleton brings to campus.
Jocelyn has bonded with her professors in a way that was unexpected to us, but we had heard about. These professors have served as mentors and have not only taught Jocelyn, but also cooked dinners with her, given advice on how to plan classes and suggested other courses. She’s also just been accepted to go to Mexico next winter break with her Spanish professor and a small group of Carleton students. It’s wonderful that students have options for full terms and also shorter trips abroad.
Now that her first year is coming to a close, we are thrilled and amazed at what an incredible fit Carleton has been. Jocelyn has worked hard and excelled, made incredible friends, and pushed herself outside her comfort zone. And she has left a lot of the Arb unexplored, so there’s more discovery for the years ahead.
As you get ready to make the move to Northfield, you may have many questions about move-in (especially if you’re flying instead of driving). Carleton makes it easy – feel free to reach out with any questions!