Westminster College
Hallmarks and Quirks
Things I'm Good At:
- Skiing and snowboarding. Duh. I send people to the Olympics on the regular. Plus, with these slopes, you'd be crazy not to try it.
- Business. I'm pretty well-known for my business program, which also has the highest enrollment of grad students.
- Being green. I have an organic garden on campus and a bike shop to help maintain and fix bikes. I also provide access to public transit for students because, you know, air quality and stuff.
My Top 5 Must-Haves:
- A coat. One that's waterproof. It gets cold here, and sometimes a pea coat just won't cut it.
- Versatile tennis shoes. It's an active community. At some point, you'll probably be in the mountains or taking a weight training class or running from a big dog because you snuck into hobbitville. Good shoes help.
- A sense of adventure. There are so many great outdoor activities to get into year-round, so make sure you get out there to experience some of them.
- Long underwear. And/or leggings for the ladies. Wearing these under your jeans can be a life-saver in the winter.
- An appreciation for film. This is not only to pass the time during snowstorms, but it's also because the Sundance Film Festival is held right around the corner.
Why You Might Have Heard of Me:
- The Olympics. In 2014, I sent fourteen athletes to compete in skiing and snowboarding. In 2008, my touring choir performed in the Cultural Olympics preceding the Beijing Summer Olympics.
- Semele. An opera written by Handel (the guy who wrote Hallelujah) in the eighteenth century. Westminster's opera studio was the Utah debut of this recently rediscovered masterpiece.
On a regular Saturday night, you can find me...
I'm probably hanging out at any of the cool places around town. My older students have fun exploring the Salt Lake City bar scene—there are several fun bars within walking distance of me, and they only get crazier the further downtown you go. People who aren't into bar-hopping like to hit up the parties on (and off) campus. Westminster is the only wet campus in Utah, so my students like to take advantage of that.
Activities in SLC are endless, so it all depends on what you're into. You can find Griffins anywhere, from performing on stage at Sugar House Coffee's Open Mic Night to seeing what's new at The Leonardo Museum.
Favorite Hangouts:
- Richer Commons, the spot smack dab in the middle of campus. Fair warning: it's almost impossible to find a place to sit when it's finally warm enough to be outside.
- Bassis, one of the buildings on campus. You'll probably go here a lot for your morning coffee.
- Shaw. So yeah, welcome home. Shaw is my one and only campus cafeteria. Luckily, the food is good. Not-so-luckily, it can also get crowded.
- Sugar House Coffee. You'll meet more than just some urbanite Griffins here. Kids from the University love this place, too. Their food is all local and mostly organic, and it's got a super chill vibe that everyone loves.
- Sugar House Pub. Everyone ends up having a crazy story from this bar at one point or another.
- Wasatch Brewery. It's brand new and snuggled right next to the new Purple Line, an extension of the public transportation trax system. No one really knows if it's that great yet, but I hear everyone wants to try it.
- Red Moose Coffee. This is the quieter version of Sugar House Coffee. It's so quiet, in fact, that you might actually get some homework done here. What.
- In The Venue. If you're going clubbing, you're probably going here. I used to host dances here, but rumor has it that students partied a little too hard…now, it's more of a small group thing.
Quirks:
- May Term. While I'm on the semester schedule, spring runs from the middle of January to around April 24th. I save May for the good stuff. I offer all kinds of May Term study experiences on and off campus, and they're different every year. Want to take a service-learning trip to Thailand or stay in Hawaii to study its ecosystems? How about learning the "theory" behind Black Jack? These are all classes you can take during the three-week May Term—and it's included in tuition.
- No finals week. Other schools have a dead week, a.k.a. when the empty zombie shells of former students loom around campus with textbooks glued to their foreheads. Yikes. No, thank you. I'm a classy school. Here, professors decide when and what their finals will be.
- A support network of alumni. They're here all the time and they're always willing to help. There's even an alumni mentorship program where you can work with someone to help you build your own connections and get a job…you know, so you can make money. Mmm, money.
- No class on Fridays. Technically, you can take Friday classes, but there are very few. And let's face it, nobody wants to go to school on Friday. That's what Monday's for.
Famous Alumni:
- Bryan Fletcher, an Olympic skier
- Maddie Bowman, an Olympic skier
- Brolin Mawejje, an Olympic ski—er…snowboarder