A lot of people like to knock
Cleveland for being a run-down city with nothing to do, but they
obviously have never been here or looked around very hard. Cleveland is
absolutely brimming with opportunities for entertainment, whether you
are looking for cinema, music, food, art, theater, anything, it's pretty
much right around Case's campus.
Off-campus Places of Interest
Since
Case is located directly in the center of University Circle, students
are a short walk away from the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum
of Natural History, the Cleveland Botanical Garden, Severance Concert
Hall, which is home to the Cleveland Orchestra, and many more cultural
institutions. While those things are great for a Saturday afternoon or a
quiet evening, or just impressing your parents, Cleveland is ripe with
opportunities for college students to toss the books out the window and
have some fun.
One
of the first things that usually comes to mind when a person mentions
Cleveland, is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And that's great to visit
once. In all honesty, it's a bland tourist attraction, but it seems to
be a beacon that brings in some of the best music acts. It's amazing how
many bands make Cleveland one of their stops, and there are plenty of
places for them to play as well, all located fairly close to campus.
These aren't just big, headliner bands playing at major venues, but also
popular underground bands and others more obscure. You'll find music
and see acts in Cleveland that you'd never have the opportunity to see
on other campuses.
The
school's shuttle service, small buses oddly called "Greenies" (they're
bit green at all), students around campus and the near vicinity of their
regular routes is to Coventry, about a two-minute drive from campus,
where students can find dingy stages that boast an incredibly diverse
lineup of live acts. Any night of the week, if the books are getting to
be too much, which is more than likely to happen (students at Case will
spend most of their time studying), students can shuttle over and catch a
music show-be it death metal, psychedelic electronics of folk
music-then walk right down Coventry and get a burrito, or a fine Chinese
dinner. They can shop for trendy clothes, buy a video game of DVD,
browse for antiques, buy a classic novel, pick up milk and cereal for
tomorrow morning, and do their dry cleaning. Or students could walk over
to Little Italy, pretty much right on campus, for fine dining, drinks,
doughnuts, or to browse through art galleries. Or, if students feel
adventurous, they could step onto the RTA, Cleveland's transit system,
for a ten-minute ride downtown to see professional baseball, football,
and basketball games, or yet more shopping, fine dining, and
entertainment.
But
more likely, you'll be sequestered in your dorm room, pouring over
books and battling the urge to flip on your computer to distract
yourself. Again, students at Case study a lot. Those who aren't ready to
fully commit themselves to their academics drop out fast. The SAGES
program might make it a little easier to transition into Case's
environment, but without the understanding of school as the main
priority, things can start to pile up pretty quickly.
Clubs and Organizations
As
one might expect from a group of motivated students, new groups and
organizations are being created and expanded all the time. Whether it is
philanthropy, media, or honorary groups, Habitat for Humanity, Mortar
Board, or Ignite (Case's student-run television station), in addition to
academic, performance, political, ethnic, religious, and athletic
groups, there is plenty of opportunity for students to get involved.
There's also a thriving Greek community on campus, in which thirty
percent of Case's students actively participate. In fact, Greek Week,
along with the Hudson Relays and Springfest, is among the most popular
events on campus.
The Network
One
thing Case is particularly proud of and what students may find most
appealing is what is referred to a The Network. Case students computer
are linked to each other through a switched-gigabit connection that
allows blazing fast transfer speeds of any file types. In total, about
12,800 locations are linked to each other around Case including
libraries, residence halls, laboratories, and pretty much every other
building on campus. This allows for the material and handouts of many
courses to be posted online and remain easily accessible, which is
course syllabi that seem to consistently escape through holes in
students backpacks. What's even more impressive is that Case's network
has gone wireless. This makes it possible to head out to one of the many
parks in the area with your computer on a clear day and type that essay
that's due next without being stuck inside. Having a computer on
campus, whether it's a desktop or a laptop, really makes things easier.
Residences
Though
many students like to knock the dorms for being for dorks, few will
have reason to do so with the construction of the new residential
village. Case is completely revamping how it houses its students,
placing them now in what is being dubbed the NRV (North Residential
Village). The first phase features three building complexes compared of
seven residential "houses" that is home to approximately 750 upper-class
students who get to bask in the apartment-style housing. The actual
living quarters boast several bedrooms, each with its own double bed and
closet, a bathroom for every two students, and a kitchen with
full-sized stove, refrigerator and microwave. Freshmen and sophomores
will certainly have something to look forward to.
Athletics
Though
at Case you might not expect it, there are plenty of competitive sports
facilities on campus. Intercollegiate sports for men and women total
nineteen, with sixty intramural sports for both genders. Dotted around
campus are multiple athletic facilities, providing students with tennis
courts, all-weather tracks, wrestling, fencing and weight rooms,
racquetball courts, facilities for badminton, basketball, volleyball,
and squash, as well as an archery range, softball diamonds, baseball,
football, and soccer fields. But keep in mind, Case's focus is academic.
I
used to be that guy, sitting around the dorms complaining about having
to constantly study and how there was nothing fun to do. So I went
Greek, like many of the people I knew in my dorm. I think the entire
floor in my dorm went Greek. It turned out to be a great decision,
putting me in touch with a large network of like-minded individuals and
leading to my finding some of my closest friends in school. It helped to
show me that there was more to the experience than slaving over study.
Now that I've graduated, there's a far-reaching network of fellow alumni
I can easily get in contact with, which is more valuable than some may
think. For anyone who finds the idea of going Greek to be revolting, a
way to "pay for friends" (which I admit I initially thought too until I
experienced it firsthand), Case has plenty of other opportunities to get
involved with other students for study and socially.
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