Finding New Skills and Community in a College House

It’s early September. A friend of mine has decided to embrace haircutting, and a group gathers on the terrace to observe their craft. Twenty minutes (and one questionable haircut) later, my dorm neighbor and I opt to play a couple of games of pool in the nearby room before heading back. As we wrapped up, I joked, “What if we just decided to get really, really good at this?”

He laughed, before pausing to think a bit more. And so it began. We played three games a day, then five, then as long as it took until one of us tapped out. Within weeks, we went from struggling to make contact with the cue ball to impressing nearby students. Word of our pool fixation began to spread. When our schedules eased up, we played for three to six hours. On busier weeks, we studied in between rounds. Best of all, we weren’t alone – the pool room was a constant source of new social interactions. The regulars had all sorts of interests – neuroscience, criminology, economics, even dual-degree engineers from the fifth floor. You name the subject; we probably knew a pool player who was at least considering it for a minor.

The room became a seminar where students shared everything they were learning in the college. Whether it was Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, Medicare policy, or developmental psychology, it was discussed with an uncanny degree of passion. The pool room encapsulates some of my favorite parts about the college. It’s a place where some of the smartest people you'll meet take a break from their chaotic schedules to relax, chat, and add yet another skill to their repertoire.

- Robin A.