Elmhurst Bluejays football

Elmhurst College

Elmhurst College
Latin: Collegium Elmhurstiense
Motto	In Lumine Tuo Videbimus Lumen
Motto in English	In Thy Light We Shall See Light
Established	1871
Type	Private
Religious affiliation	United Church of Christ
Endowment	over $100 million
President	S. Alan Ray
Academic staff	136
Undergraduates	3,400
Postgraduates	230
Location	Elmhurst, IL, USA
Campus	Suburban
Colors	Blue and white
Athletics	CCIW NCAA Division III 18 Varsity Teams
Nickname	Bluejays
Website	public.elmhurst.edu

Elmhurst College is a comprehensive private liberal arts college in Elmhurst, Illinois with a tradition of service-oriented learning. It is considered one of the best colleges in the Midwest. It has a rich affiliation with the United Church of Christ and is considered to be a more open and progressive college.

History

‎ In 1871, Jennie and Thomas Bryan gave land in Elmhurst to the German Evangelical Synod of the Northwest. This land was given for the purpose of establishing a school to prepare young men for the theological seminary and to train teachers for parochial schools, called the Elmhurst Proseminary. The first students, who were all male, studied Latin, Greek, English, German, music, history, geography, mathematics, science, and religion. All classes were taught in German. It wasn't until 1917 that the catalog was published in English. In 1919, the name was changed to the Elmhurst Academy and Junior College, and the expanded curriculum included courses in public speaking, physical education, economics, psychology, and the history of education. In 1924, the school was renamed Elmhurst College and became a four-year college for men. The college seal was designed in the 1920s by Robert Leonhardt, first registrar of the College, who also served as coach of the football team. Women first enrolled in 1930. The school was first accredited in 1934. In 1949, Elmhurst College offered its first part-time classes. In 1998, Elmhurst College rolled out the first of a handful of graduate programs, meeting with great success [1].

Campus

The campus is 48 acres (154,000 m²) in Elmhurst, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. The grounds are painstakingly maintained, and the College boasts an arboretum with more than 700 different species from around the globe [2].

Academics

Elmhurst College offers bachelor's degrees and master's degrees. Approximately 3,400 full-time and part-time students are enrolled in its 22 undergraduate academic departments and nine graduate degree programs. The college offers over 50 majors and allows students the flexibility to create their own. There are eleven required general education courses, but students are given a wide variety of classes to fulfill them[3].

Independent rankings have consistently considered Elmhurst to be a top college in the Midwest. In 2004, six years after its inception, the College's master's program in Industrial/Organizational Psychology was ranked as 5th overall in the nation based on student ratings of quality.

Student life

Athletics

Elmhurst College is a member of the NCAA Division III College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW). The Elmhurst Bluejays compete in 18 varsity sports for men and women in bowling, cross country running, soccer, golf, tennis, volleyball, basketball, track and field, softball, football, wrestling, and baseball. Elmhurst was a member of the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from 1925 to 1941 and is now a member of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. Langhorst field is named in honor of the late Oliver M. Langhorst, class of 1930. Elmhurst College competes in only one club sport, men's rugby.

Student Organizations

Elmhurst College has over 100 different non-athletic student-ran organizations[4]. The college's radio station is WRSE-FM and award-winning newspaper is The Leader.

Greek Life

Elmhurst College is home to three social sororities and three social fraternities: Alpha Sigma Phi, Alpha Tau Omega, Lambda Chi Alpha, Alpha Phi, Phi Mu, and Sigma Kappa. Elmhurst College also has an active chapter of the male fraternity Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. Fraternities and sororities are not allowed to have houses on or off campus due to legal restrictions in the city of Elmhurst.

Residence life

The Frick Center houses lounges, dining facilities, a game room, the mailroom, meeting rooms, and radio station WRSE (88.7mHz). The offices of the Student Government Association, Union Board, the yearbook, the college newspaper, Student Affairs and Student Activities, and the Writing Center also are in this building. Formerly known as the College Union, this building was renamed in 1994 to honor the College's eleventh president, Dr. Ivan E. Frick, and his wife, Ruth Hudson Frick.

Students who live on campus reside in six residence halls:

Senior students are able to reside in campus apartments which include the Elm Park apartments (with housing for 28), the Prospect apartments (with housing for 32), and the Elmhurst Terrace apartments (roughly 1.4 miles southwest of campus) -- though exceptions have been made.

Traditions

The college hash bell is a large handbell rung at Elmhurst College ceremonies as a reminder of the long history of the College. This is the bell that kept the school on schedule in its early years, and generations of alumni have recalled fondly the loud clanging that woke students in the morning, assembled them for classes and activities, and then called them from their chores to dinner in the evening. One of the earliest Elmhurst catalogs declares: "Life in the institution is regulated entirely by the stroke of the bell." Why it came to be called "the Hash Bell" remains a mystery.

The haunted Mill Theatre was acquired by Elmhurst College in the early 1960s. Before becoming the primary theatrical space for the college, the single story building functioned as part of a paper mill operated by the Hammerschmidt family. During that time, there were numerous deaths that occurred on the property due to the hazardous nature of the facility. To this day there are strange accounts of voices and odd apparitions within the Mill Theatre. Internally, the facility is small, with limited seating placed on three sides of a 6" raised platform usually referred to as the "stage." The converted room is sub par acoustically, and the configuration of the room results in a poor line of site from the majority of seats. Accidents and malfunctions resulting from the facilities many inadequacies add to the legend's impact.

The Victory Bell is a large bell located in the corner of Langhorst Field, which is rung by every member of the team, after every victory the Elmhurst College football team brings to the school.

Selected signatures and dates can be seen inside the clock tower in Old Maine, some dating back to the founding years of the college's history. It has remained a rare occasion when students are allowed access, and it is a coveted prize to be able to add your own name.

Many students are told to be weary of the "Bad Luck Tree" hanging over the sidewalk to the north of Memorial Hall. The tree, a sharply slanted Austrian Pine, has been rumored to give students bad luck. While most students don't think twice about it, others still walk around it so as not to fall under its bad luck curse. The rumors surrounding this tree are rooted in the unfortunate car-related death of a student on campus many years ago.

The College was given the original nativity scene from the movie Home Alone, which is displayed each year during the holiday season.

It is believed that the gates of knowledge (the original entrance to the college on the east edge of campus) with bless you with knowledge. As such, it has been a tradition for some students to run under the gates before major tests and exams, and particularly during midterms and finals.

Notable persons

Notes and references

External links

• Official website

Retrieved from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmhurst_College#Athletics