Over Family Weekend, many students gave their families a glimpse into their lives at Colgate University by walking them around campus and exploring the shops in town. However, this was unnecessary for those with family members who attended Colgate and are already familiar with student life on campus.
Sophomore Teagan Clark has been able to share her love of Colgate with her older sister Sophie Clark ’22, who graduated before her sister began attending Colgate. While they did not overlap in their time here, Teagan feels that the school has still uniquely connected them.
“I think it’s the little things, like using campus slang or talking with her friends about professors, that can be so connecting for us,” Teagan Clark said. “There is something very annoying and tedious about telling your home friends or family all the background information about the college you go to, and being able to skip that kind of world-building conversation is so helpful. I know that if I FaceTime my sister to tell her about my day, I can talk to her the same way I talk to people at school, except she’s also my sister and knows everything about me.”
“This is small, but I love that I know exactly what she’s doing when I stalk her on Find My Friends,” Sophie Clark added. “It’s like we have a secret because I know the campus so well compared to our parents and brother.”
Teagan and Sophie Clark never expected to have their University as a shared experience.
“I was in seventh grade when Sophie got into Colgate, and I remember thinking I would never go to a school like it,” Teagan Clark said.
She explained that a pivotal moment for her change of heart about the University came from watching one of her sister’s milestones on campus.
“I think going to her graduation showed me how special the school is, and I wanted to share that with her,” Teagan Clark said. “As I got older, I realized that I could also love Colgate and be successful here.”
However, Sophie Clark knew Colgate was the right place for her younger sister to attend college.
“Teagan and I went to the same high school, and we both liked the same things about that school. I felt that Colgate took the things I loved about my high school and made them even better,” Sophie Clark said. “I think Colgate was the perfect place to build on the exact same values, and I knew that, because of the type of person and student that Teagan is, she would thrive at Colgate.”
Since graduating, Sophie Clark has been able to relive some of her old experiences through her sister.
“I really enjoy watching Teagan at Colgate,” Sophie Clark said. “It’s sort of weird because she was so young when I went to Colgate that I didn’t share the more social aspects of the school with her, so hearing her talk about those things is really interesting. We both have fairly parallel experiences at school, but I love seeing her make the experience her own.”
Teagan Clark added that her sister especially enjoys hearing about life at Colgate from her perspective because Sophie attended college during the COVID-19 pandemic, which significantly impacted her experience.
“Sophie also went through Colgate having a couple of COVID years, so we will have the occasional conversation about her missing certain things because of it, but I think she loves still being connected to the school, even if it is vicariously through me at times,” Teagan Clark added.
Through their love of Colgate, the sisters have shared special memories. As older siblings do, Sophie Clark had some advice for her sister for the rest of her time on campus.
“Enjoy everything, it really does go by so fast,” Sophie Clark said. “I went to Colgate during [COVID-19], so I felt like I lost a year of normalcy, but that made me soak up senior year and leave with no regrets about missing anything. She should really just enjoy it all.”
