Campus Life
Annapolis - Clubs & Organizations
Extracurricular organizations at St. John's are generally informal. Some continue year after year while others spring up and die out as the individual members of the community come and go. Many extracurricular activities grow directly out of the curriculum as students' interests overflow from the classroom. The past years have seen small classes –some led by students, others by tutors — in harmony, Latin, German, the New Testament, Hegel, Leibnitz, African-American literature, and selected women writers. Other activities stem from interests independent of the College curriculum, such as gardening, dance, and the martial arts.
Theatre
Theatre life is active. The King William Players stage one or two classical plays a year, perform one or two modern works, and produce several one-act plays. Recent productions have included "Lion in Winter," "Hamlet," "The Misanthrope," "The Man of La Mancha," "A Man for All Seasons," and William Shakespeare's As You Like It with a modern twist.
Other Activities
Parties come in several varieties. Students arrange rock dances, waltz parties, and community gatherings including the Halloween Masked Ball, Christmas Party, Mid-Winter Ball and the Spring Cotillion. A festival in the spring, Reality Weekend, beginning with student skits and parodies, provides a full day of picnicking and athletic competition.
Other activities that students on campus enjoy include: volunteering (hospital, elementary school tutoring, Habitat for Humanity, etc.), political involvement, political forums, and special interest groups like the Environmental Club and the Photography Club. Annapolis itself offers church groups of all denominations, synagogues, concerts, plays, historic tours, sailing, the Naval Academy, hiking, cycling, State government, political work, community service groups, etc. Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland, both within an hour's drive, offer activities too numerous to mention; the Director of Student Activities schedules trips to both cities to attend plays and films as well as for individual explorations.
Student Publications
The Gadfly, a student newspaper, provides a second medium for expression of opinion to the community as a whole. Controversy ranges from petty to vital; short stories, poetry and news take up the rest of the space. Two other student publications, The Collegian and Energeia, appear less frequently, and publish longer and more polished essays and fiction. Students who are interested in journalism are welcome to work with the editor of the St. John's alumni magazine, The College. Students are also welcome to contribute to The St. John's Review, the official publication of St. John's.