My School Trip to Roger Williams and UMASS Dartmouth

By Cooper Heilman, staff reporter

This past Tuesday April 30th, a number of my fellow Sturgis classmates and I went on the sophomore college field trip to Roger Williams University and Umass Dartmouth.  We were all excited to see what college was really like firsthand.  
The bus left school early in the morning and we headed out to Roger Williams University first, which was right near the Rhode Island/Massachusetts border.  The college was on a small peninsula next to the water.  My first impression of the campus was a good one; there were water fountains at the gate, green grass everywhere, and neat buildings.  The campus was like its own little town.  We met with our tour guides in the morning, and they showed us around the whole campus.  They were both very nice and thoughtful.  First, they showed us the gym and athletics department, which had large indoor basketball courts, soccer courts, and a track, its own cafeteria, swimming pool, gym, and much more.  It was a very inviting place overall.  What I remember most were the windows from the gym that overlooked the water.  It was a pretty sight.Roger Williams University library (above)
The tour guides continued to lead us to the biology labs and the dorm rooms.  The dorm rooms seemed cozy and clean, with plenty of windows overlooking the water.  It looked like a place I might want to live in while at college.  Finally, they showed us the library and the cafeteria.  The cafeteria was a huge plus; it had about every variety of food you could think of.  As our tour guides informed us, Roger Williams takes pride in its architecture program, which happens to be one of the top architecture programs in the country, and we were able to see many impressive works and models of architecture on our tour.
    As far as the academics went, there was a decent variety of majors (43 to be exact), and plenty of clubs, sports, and other activities to get involved in.  However, the academics were not as impressive as the campus itself.   
Roger Williams University tour
 
As far as Umass Dartmouth was concerned, I was not impressed in the least bit with the campus, and after talking with many of my classmates, I figured out that the majority of them shared my opinion.  We visited the dorm rooms first, which left a bad first impression on me.  The hallways that led to the dorm rooms were dark, milky-white, and stuffy, and the room numbers were painted on the grungy walls above the rooms. However, the rooms themselves were not as bad; they had plenty of space.  
    Once we got to the main campus, the buildings improved a little.  The architecture would have been interesting if it weren't made of the same gray cement everywhere.  The architect seemed to have had many great ideas, but they just did not seem to have worked out.  The stairs were built awkwardly so as to “slow people down so they can think about life” as our tour guide informed us, and there was a very tall radio tower that also functioned as a bell tower.  The central yard and fields were pretty enough.  We visited the arts building, which was definitely the most impressive area of the campus.  This was no surprise to me, because Umass Dartmouth prides itself in its arts program.  
    Overall, however, I was much less impressed with Umass Dartmouth than Roger Williams.  Roger Williams had a beautiful campus and decent academics, as it seemed to me, whereas Umass Dartmouth’s campus was unpleasant, although it would be a great college for an arts student.  
    The best thing I gathered from the college field trip was a sense of what a college campus looked like, and what life will be like for me when I go to college.  After visiting these colleges, regardless of their academic rating, I found myself actually excited for my future in college.