First Person: 19 Facts That Make Us Fall in Love With SLU All Over Again

From the moment I arrived on campus, I knew St. Lawrence was the school for me. From its stunning buildings to the friendly people, SLU had taken my breath away. Now a junior, I’m a chemistry major and an Admissions Ambassador. Every time I step back into Payson Hall to work in Admissions, I am reminded of all the reasons I love this school. While there are so many things we do in Admissions, one of the most exciting is our discussions about facts we have discovered about St. Lawrence. As an Ambassador, I decided it was time the entire campus heard about all of the things that have made all fall in love with SLU all over again.

These are our favorite SLU facts:

1. Our First-Year Program is one of the oldest living-learning programs in the country.
2. The alma mater was written by a St. Lawrence graduate, J. Kimball Gannon '24, who also wrote: “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”.
3. St. Lawrence operates one of the oldest U.S. study abroad programs on the entire African continent and owns a five-acre campus in the suburbs of Nairobi, Kenya.
4. SLU was the first co-educational college in New York and it was the first to award baccalaureate degrees to women as opposed to certificates of attendance.
5. Richardson Hall and Herring-Cole are both on the National Register of Historic Places.
6. KSLU (previously known as WCAD) was one of the nation’s first college radio stations.
7. Johnson Hall is LEED Gold certified and was the first Gold LEED-certified science building in New York State.
8. St. Lawrence used to be farmland, but for every student that decided to attend school here, a tree was planted. Now we have a campus that is covered in trees, with a 1:1 student to tree ratio!
9. The Snowbowl (a small area with slopes for skiing, a snack shack, and ski jumps) used to be owned and operated by St. Lawrence.
10. St. Lawrence University is unique among U.S. colleges and universities as it is the liberal arts college closest to another nation’s capital, Ottawa.
11. Owen D. Young was a St. Lawrence alumnus who was featured as the Time magazine Man of the Year in 1930!
12. The Hill News was awarded first place in the college newspaper category for "General Excellence”.
13. The Gunnison Memorial Chapel bells are rung by students and anyone can make song requests! One of the most popular requests is happy birthday.
14. The official motto of St. Lawrence is Fides et Veritas which is translated into “Faith and Truth” or “Loyalty and Integrity”.
15. Legend says that it wasn’t actually Clarkson that broke the stained-glass window in Herring-Cole. There used to be a baseball field where Atwood is located and a ball was hit through the window, that’s why there is plexi-glass there now!
16. The Brewer Bookstore used to be home to the St. Lawrence basketball court, that’s why it has such a unique design!
17. Within 7-9 months after graduation, the combined total placement of graduates is 97% (Class of 2015); approximately 19% in graduate or professional study and approximately 78% in full-time professional careers. [Statistics are based on an 82% response rate from the Class of 2015]
18. There are catacombs located under Herring-Cole.
19. The coffee sold in the Brewer Bookstore, Caribou Coffee, was founded by Kim Whitehead Puckett, Class of 1986, and her husband.