When we think about the students who attended Blackburn College in the past, what comes to mind? Is it hippie students in the ‘60s and ‘70s protesting the war or the students of the ‘50s going to Sadie Hawkins dances? That is what I thought until I delved deep into the yearbooks in the Blackburn archives. What quickly became apparent were that all the assumptions I had about the students of the past were wrong. From the earliest yearbook (1920) to the latest (2012), it became apparent that students were students no matter the era. They may not have played their music on Bluetooth speakers or dabbed, but they did love music and to make fun of old people who didn’t understand the kids of the era.
Students, change. Or, that was my belief when I decided to write this article. In order to prove my theory I searched through the yearbooks of Blackburn’s past and quickly found evidence that I was wrong. In the yearbooks I found a few standouts that shook my belief. In the ‘70s, a student playing the tuba at the urinal is no different than the students today that you’ll find blasting their Bluetooth speakers in the bathroom. In the ‘80s I found two students dressed as cats for no reason other than they felt like being dressed up like cats that day. I ask, is this so different from our fellow students on campus who dress like their favorite anime characters?
Every year of Blackburn’s history has seen the same types of people: the theater kids, band nerds, jocks and all the other stereotypes of the typical college student have passed through Blackburn’s halls. Blackburn’s students today are a diverse group; the campus today has a student body from every walk of life, yet we’re still very much like the students of years past. We hate tests the same, love our days off from class and when our jobs inevitably start to suck, we complain about our bosses in the same manner. We all are just trying to survive college the best we can. Sometimes we fail, but we’re all trying to get a degree that will give us the career of our dreams.