Colorado College

CC is filled with artistically-minded people who have chosen to study Biology, Chemistry, or other such inartistic subjects, and thus have few opportunities to express themselves. Dance Workshop is a dance exhibition put on every semester. Students organize and choreograph the different programs, and practice tirelessly the last two blocks of the semester. The result is a beautiful medley of dances, from ballet to modern jazz to tap.

Once a year, the men at CC become gorgeous women, and the women become hunky men. The Drag Ball lets it all hang out as students compete, runway style, for prizes. Professional drag queens set the bar high, and the students enthusiastically respond to the challenge of switching genders—or at least clothes—for a night.

The Glass House, being the multicultural house, began a tradition of putting on a block party that celebrates the different cultural heritages of the students. It's always a colorful night filled with wild music and even wilder dancing.

Each year, the Sigma Chi fraternity throws this bash for the entire campus. Students dress as Hell's Angels and other Harley-Davidson-riding gangs.

Near the end of each school year, the entire college gathers to honor its brightest in Shove Chapel. Each department gives out awards to exemplary students who have shown themselves dedicated to their studies and to learning in general.

Many students sleep through this ceremony, as it begins at 8:30 a.m. on the first day of classes. The annual ceremony is worth at least one trip though; the school gives honorary degrees to outstanding CC alum, and the keynote speaker livens up the morning with jokes and true stories from the “real world.”

Every spring, the school sponsors an outdoor concert (weather permitting) on the school's grassy expanse, the Quad. School music groups contract local bands and some national acts to play the all-day-into-the-night festival as students lounge on couches brought from the dorms. The school always provides a good variety of tunes, although the music sometimes takes a back seat to the rest of the impromptu activities going on around the green grass.

The fraternities invite the campus to come bowling at midnight at an alley near CC. The games and shoes are cheap, but it's the pitchers of beer that empty most students out. Money goes to charity.

Seniors don't plan on getting much studying done during the first and last blocks of the year. At the beginning of these blocks, the president of the class hands out a “Senior Party Calendar” assigning a theme and location for a party every night. Some of the highlights are “Pirates and Booty” and “Go Geek.”

Each block, a group of student comedians puts on an improvisational comedy show. The cast is forever changing and the jokes seem to get raunchier every time. The shows are always funny, though, and always worth the hour break from studying.

While the drama department puts on several productions each year, theatre workshop provides an outlet for smaller pieces. This primarily student-run organization dabbles in many play styles, and their pieces should never be missed.