We Can Be More Than ‘Camp Trin’

Leon Hu ’29

Opinion Editor

The most pervasive stereotype about Trinity is our reputation of being a rich kid’s school, even more so than our notoriety for Mather’s food, our squash teams or our campus architecture. We find ourselves in an odd position where we are clearly a prestigious school with a campus similar to that of elite institutions but with selectivity that is far more lenient than that of a ‘true’ elite school. Consequently, Trinity has become known as a safety school for wealthier students, many of whom attended private high schools, that acts as a sieve to catch the worse of the students from elite high schools who couldn’t make it into the absolute elite schools. With the dregs of the socioeconomic elite gathered in one place combined with a campus culture that promotes social outings over academics, some allege that Trinity becomes a glorified, four-year summer camp for the rich — ‘Camp Trin.’ 

Does this not feel reductive? Does this not oversimplify the caliber of our students and faculty? Everyone who has been a Bantam is well aware of this reputation, yet everyone from Trinity also knows fully well that many around us are truly, undeniably great — elite, even. At any school, even top schools, there will be a range of willingness to commit to the academic college experience. People with different mentalities have different definitions of what success in college looks like, leading to academic priorities of wildly different forms.

However, what can define how ‘good’ a school is is the best of its students and faculty. In this regard, we do exceptionally well. Looking at the accomplishments of our President’s Fellows for any given year should be sufficient proof. Similarly, our faculty are all exceptionally accomplished scholars with the CVs and recognition to prove it. We have Pulitzer Prize finalists, National Book Award finalists, and NASA affiliates in our ranks. As a well-placed, prestigious liberal arts college, we naturally attract high-level faculty in all fields. It is important to remember that all tenure-track faculty positions in academia are highly sought-after, especially ones associated with a position of notable prestige. 

Additionally, our research output is very high for a liberal arts college. For context, U.S. News and World Report ranks us as the second-lowest school in the NESCAC, but our annual research expenditure is the fourth-highest amongst the NESCAC’s primarily-undergraduate institutions, beating out Bowdoin, Hamilton, Middlebury, Bates and Conn. College. Dozens of our faculty have been cited thousands of times in other peer-reviewed articles. Combined with our research-based Gateway programs and our expansive Summer Research Program, we all have remarkable amounts of access to research labs compared to top liberal arts colleges across the world. In many ways, we match the strengths of schools deemed to be ‘better’ than us — schools that do not carry the reputation of being mere camps for students to fall into. 

Thus, in terms of our academic infrastructure, we already have what it takes to be a ‘top’ school. We have the markings of being something greater than a sieve for prep-school Ivy League rejects. Yet, none of this makes any difference if our attitudes about Trinity do not change. ‘Camp Trin’ is not an official moniker: it is a shared mentality that our campus is little more than a summer camp to waste the formative years of your life in. We do not have to waste our time here at Trinity. We do not have to waste over $90,000 a year to do nothing. There is so much we can do beyond skipping classes and ChatGPT-ing assignments. We have access to resources that can make us so much more, more than performing the academic bare minimum and enough to cement ourselves as something truly great. And we do not have to sacrifice the positive aspects of ‘Camp Trin’ — a lush social network, athletic pride and a postcard-worthy campus — to do so. All we need to do is change how we think about our college experience. By being here, we are able to be something more than just enough. This is not just a camp. It is an opportunity to transform yourself into the best person you could possibly be.