St. John's College in Santa Fe, New Mexico

One of the pitfalls of taking a vacation with me is that I turn every trip into a full-blown college dork-out session.  I hear "wedding in Upstate New York," and think "Vassar."  I hear "Florida beach vacation" and think "University of Miami."  So, when my mom suggested that I use my week off to take a trip to Santa Fe to spend some quality time with her, I thought, "St. John's College!"  After informing her of my intentions, she graciously allowed me to spend an hour milling around campus - but only if I would spend the afternoon at one of the great flea markets outside of Santa Fe.  Deal.

The entrance to St. John's College.  St. John's also has a campus in Annapolis, which has the same programs.  Don't confuse these two with St. John's University, which is a much larger Catholic school in Queens, NY.

 

 

Stairs leading up to some of the classrooms at St. John's.  The school has a "Great Books" program which requires students to study the great thinkers and writers of the Western tradition.  There are no majors; all students follow the same program. 

 

 

A small waterfall at the base of the chapel is at the center of campus.  Students sit in chairs and tables in this area and study on nice days.  On this particular day it was about 40 degrees.

 

 

More classrooms.  Professors are called "tutors" at St. John's - they consider their teachers to be Einstein, Homer, Woolf, Mozart, and Freud.  All classes are discussion-based.

 

 

 

"Johnnies" gather to eat and study in the dining hall.

 

 

I loved that most of the buildings were made out of adobe - it added to the Southwestern feel.

 

 

Dorm buildings.  While St. John's only has an enrollment of 430 students, it felt much larger to me.

 

 

A close-up of the chapel.  Yep, there's still snow on the ground in early April.

 

 

St. John's gym - where you can break a sweat and read The Odyssey!

 

Hope you enjoyed these pictures from St. John's College.  Thanks for joining me!  (You too, Mom!)

Blogged by:
Katie Konrad (Director, Collegewise - Northwest)

Comments

[Anonymous]

There's no chapel. We're not religiously affiliated. That's Weigle Hall, the administration building.

[Anonymous Johnnie]

As Anonymous previously indicated, this is no chapel. It is a bell tower that stands atop the administration building that tolls the hour at the start of Seminar on weeknights.