Student Stories

The Song Remains the Same

Karaoke Night: From Japan to the Shoreland to South CampusWhen Shoreland Hall closed in 2009 and its houses moved to the South Campus Residence Hall, Fishbein House was renamed Jannotta (for Deborah R. and Edgar D. Jannotta, emeritus University trustee)—but it kept its annual Karaoke Night. This year marked the 20th anniversary of the tradition. With interpretations of Britney Spears’s “Baby One More Time” and Kristin Chenoweth’s “Taylor the Latte Boy,” Kenwood House beat out the other seven South Campus houses to win first place. See the video of the performances by searching for “Jannotta House Karaoke Night 2013” on YouTube. 

Sports Frolic: From Pierce Hallto a shiny new home, eventually Pierce Hall’s first Sports Frolic, held in 1982, was won by Henderson House. This year Tufts House won, while Thompson House—the Chicago Cubs of the Sports Frolic—marked the 20-year anniversary of its last victory. “While the Pierce houses are moving out of this building in June,” says Ana Campos of the Housing Office, “the residents will ensure that the tight-knit communities, relationships, and unique house traditions live on.” 

Linn House’s signature styleSome house traditions involve artifacts, such as the Linn House signature wall at Burton-Judson Courts. After Linn and Mathews merged in 2010, the house’s student leaders drafted a letter to the first-years assigned to live in the signature-wall room. Here is an excerpt:

Dear Incoming Linn-Mathews First-Year,When you arrive on campus in just a few short weeks, you will find a unique room has been bestowed upon you and your roommate. With this year’s merge between Linn House and Mathews House, a new, larger house lounge has been constructed, and the two smaller lounges have been converted to doubles. You have been assigned what, up until this year, had been the Linn House lounge.Starting in 1983, Linnhausers (as we refer to ourselves) began signing their names on the walls of the lounge—first within the pages of a large, painted book, and when those pages were filled, on the opposite wall within the lines of a painted sheet of notebook paper.We know they may not be your first choice of decoration in a room that you will be living in for a year, especially since you have not yet been a part of Linn or the housing system. We are confident, however, that as you gain a strong allegiance to Linn-Mathews, you will gain a strong allegiance to its history, which is embodied in the paintings on these walls.