The past week brought great success for the Amherst College field hockey team as it picked up two crucial wins. One came over non-conference foe Keene State on Wednesday, Sept. 17 while the second was a key NESCAC victory over Williams on Saturday, Sept. 20.
In the Jeffs’ defeat of the Owls, Ellie Anderson ’15 opened up the scoring just over nine minutes into the contest. Anderson received the pass from Madeline Tank ’15 and netted her first goal of the 2014 season. Anderson’s goal would proe to be the game-winner, but Caroline Fiore ’18 added insurance just over a minute later.
In sports, it is often said that defense wins championships. For the Amherst football team, defense wins home openers. The Jeffs were triumphant in their first game, as they defeated the Bates Bobcats 14-6 on Saturday in large part due to their ability to stop the Bobcats on offense.
Bates remained scoreless until the fourth quarter, and the Jeffs’ defense limited the Bobcat offense to only 133 rush yards and 113 pass yards on the day. In addition, they intercepted Bates quarterback Matt Cannone three times and sacked him twice for losses.
First-year orientation, focused on building a sense of community and introducing the new students to the college’s entrenched moral pillars, highlighted an exciting time for the incoming class of 2018. Throughout the week, students engaged in a number of activities emphasizing the social, ethical and communal characteristics of Amherst in small group discussions and in large class-wide assemblies. While most of the dialogue regarding the ethical climate and societal configuration of the college was unquestionably pertinent, at times certain conversations seemed superfluous.
Confession: I have not been an Amherst student for a very long time. Four weeks, to be exact — I arrived on campus on the morning of August 24, heart filled to the brim with nervous expectation, a grin plastered on my face so I wouldn’t scare away any potential friends. Although I haven’t even had my first slice of Antonio’s yet, let alone experienced my first midterm, I do believe I’m well qualified to write about my experiences with orientation 2014 as part of the class of 2018.
A 50-lb, 39x80-inch, navy blue rectangle is currently giving shape to the bulky conversations about rape that have been spreading across college campuses in recent years. It feels too obvious and literal to discuss “Carry that Weight/Mattress Performance” in terms of dimensions, gravity or language associated with bedding. It feels simplistic to simply celebrate the work in an op-ed, but its importance is tangible in the sense that it is actually tangible.
Amherst College is a place of abundance. We have a plethora of intellectual thought, an admirably high degree of social and economic diversity, a formidable endowment and a surprising number of vegan dessert options. The contrarian in me was thus tempted to look for that which we are missing. The thing that struck me was disconcerting and fascinating — we have a dearth of dreams.
For the first time in recent memory, Amherst students have been without the significant representation found in a student body president. Yes, we’ve had upheavals within the AAS before: election scandals, constitutional conventions and even dissolutions of the entire governments. These repeated “scandals” only illustrate how, as students, our faith is visibly shaken in our student-led institution to do anything more substantive for the student body than dole out money to clubs.
