What Olympics Look Like At King’s
For three solid days, our ten Houses go head-to-head in a series of competitive events. Think Olympic Games, only with a highly intellectual twist.
This is one of my favorite times of year at The King’s College. It is Interregnum—a week during which all classes are canceled for a very unusual purpose.
For three solid days, our ten Houses go head-to-head in a series of competitive events. Think Olympic Games, only with a highly intellectual twist.
The events vary, but they are all centered on a common theme that has been in focus the entire year. This year’s theme is mortality. Having begun the year reading Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich, students spent the 2014-15 academic year reflecting upon human frailty and death to gain perspective on life.
During Interregnum, students intensively mine this theme from numerous angles. Competitions include debate, art, creative writing, prepared lectures and recitation of historic speeches.
The talents of the King’s student body are on full display. This morning, I was riveted by Lucinda Sweezey’s (Media, Culture and the Arts ’15) delivery of Helen Keller’s 1916 speech Strike Against War. This afternoon, I watched two hours of dramatic performances—some comedic, some solemn—on death and dying. Yesterday, I observed debaters from each House engage in a series of fiery exchanges around topics such as media coverage of ISIS brutality.
Want to know what makes King’s a unique institution in the world of higher education? Take in one day of Interregnum and it becomes vividly clear. The level of rhetoric around ideas and culture, expressed in word and in art, rises to epic levels.
And it is entirely student driven. Students organize the entire event. Students compete. Students give full vent to their creativity and brilliance.
It is beautiful to behold.