Freshmen, faculty mingle at High Table

The freshman class and many Hopkins faculty members gathered in the gymnasium of the Ralph S. O’Connor Recreation Center on Tuesday night for the sixth annual High Table, a dinner originating from the classical British tradition practiced at Oxford and Cambridge Universities.

“It’s basically about having an Oxford-Cambridge style dinner where everyone is sitting at these super long tables,” Sarah Zappone, a freshman class senator, said.  “Then, there is a High Table with President Daniels and administrators up front.”

The “high table” consisted of the president and other senior level administrators, as well as the freshman class officers in the Student Government Association (SGA).  The event itself is designed to have a formal and academic, yet less conventional, atmosphere in which students and faculty can talk to one another in a more relaxed manner.

“We see these faculty everyday, but it is so hierarchical,” Zappone said.

Freshman Class Senator Heidi Woll thought the event was a great opportunity for students and faculty to interact in a personal setting.

“Really, it’s a nice kind of way to be able to interact with faculty, I feel.  Honestly, we don’t get as many kinds of events in which we can really directly interact with faculty that we invite,” Woll said.

About 70 faculty members came to the event, many of whom had attended the event in previous years.  According to Zappone, the SGA invited several professors and graduate students who teach introductory level classes, in which many freshmen are enrolled.  Zappone said the dinner also presented a unique opportunity for students to meet professors outside of their major, since both the faculty and students were seated at random.

Freshman Thaddeus Woodard thought the event was a good opportunity for students to talk with professors outside of an academic context.

“I really liked the fact that we got to sit with Jesus [Diego-Martinez] from Calc II. He’s portrayed as this person who is scary... but you sit down there and you talk about... his goals,” Woodard said. “We got to hear his back story and that was awesome.  It was in an environment that was really conducive to meeting faculty.  I almost wish we could do that more.”

Freshman Sydney Lerner echoed the sentiment.

“It was a nice conversation because it was very informal,” Lerner said.  “It was nice to have a conversation [with professors] that you would [normally] have with peers.  And they were very curious about how freshman year was going and what it is to be a freshman at Hopkins.”

Freshman Emily Grose agreed that professors were interested in talking about student life.

“The professor we were talking to was asking us all about the FFC and where we all live and she just really wanted to get to know what it was like to be at Hopkins as a freshman,” Grose said.

According to Zappone, High Table is a good way of preserving tradition and  gathering the freshman class together.

“Everyone loves a tradition, and we don’t have too many of them. Commemoration Ball is a great thing that SGA’s kind of bringing back, but this is something the freshman council’s always been involved with. The last time [the freshman class was] all together was at Convocation, so it’s cool for us to regroup,” Zappone said.

The freshman class senators had been planning the event since October.  Both Woll and Zappone agreed that the most difficult part of planning the function was choosing the menu.

The gym was set up with many long tables decorated with a runner of gold cloth.  There was sparkling cider and water for all attendees and gold napkins at each place setting.  The decorations invoked a formal atmosphere.  Around the room, there were pictures including some significant figures in Hopkins history.

Woodard thought High Table was an exciting experience.

“We got to get dressed up and talk to professors who were willing to talk to us.  They had a story to tell and they told theirs and we told ours.  I enjoyed that,” Woodard said.