乐播传媒

Fran Miele 鈥�26 is from Forney, Texas, where the state rock isn鈥檛 a rock at all but a fossil, petrified palmwood.

On Aug. 31, Opening Day for the Class of 2027 at 乐播传媒 College 鈥� a bit more than a stone’s throw from Texas 鈥� Miele, a junior advisor for Parker Hall, had no trouble finding the right and real rock to serve a crucial purpose and fulfill a time honored 乐播传媒 tradition: holding the door open.

Except for one day a year, 乐播传媒 doors are never propped open. That one day is Opening Day, when student leaders like Miele, who are the front-line welcomers and baggage handlers, figure out creative ways to keep the 乐播传媒 doors open for a steady flow of new students moving into their 乐播传媒 digs. 

Meile carefully selected a piece of river stone, rounded by millions of years of water flow over and around it, from the thousands of stones that make up Parker鈥檚 rock drip edge. 鈥淪mooth and small enough to fit under a door, but won鈥檛 roll.鈥� 

Over at Gillespie Hall (the residence formerly known as 280 College Street), the team had a more weighty answer to the problem, using broken pavers as a heavy door stop for one door and a large piece of granite for another.

The piece of granite is a few hundred million years old. And now, suddenly, it has a new purpose. I asked Kendall Jones 鈥�25 Plymouth, N.H., helping out on Opening Day, about the rock, and we agreed: This rock has found its Purposeful Work!

Over at Page Hall, we found a type of doorstop we鈥檝e never seen on Opening Day: A real rubber doorstop! Or, as Amazon calls it, the 鈥淪trongest Door Stopper, Heavy Duty Door Stop Wedge Made of Premium Quality Zinc and Rubber Suits Any Door, Any Floor.鈥�

Quinn Hughes 鈥�26 of Villanova, Pa., a junior advisor in Page, gets the credit for pulling out this particular stop. 鈥淚t was in my room,鈥� he shrugged.

Clason House, on College Street, is one of the smaller 乐播传媒 residences (30 students). Sitting on the porch welcoming students were Caroline Cassell 鈥�24 of Woodstock, Vt., and Delaney Rankin 鈥�24 of Harrison, Maine, each of whom served as community advisors, and Kayla Burnham ’26 of Hartland, Vt., a cross country runner who was among many varsity athletes helping out on Opening Day.

They had given some off-season purpose to a winter staple at 乐播传媒, a bucket of ice melt, this version comprising environmentally friendly potash, urea, and crushed limestone, safe for both lawns and gardens.

Folks at Adams Hall had perhaps the priciest door stop, a fold-up hand truck that will burn a $100 hole in your wallet on retail.

At Rand Hall, the door alarms hadn鈥檛 been turned off by the time students began moving in, so a permanent doorstop wasn鈥檛 in the cards. So Alexis Gonzales 鈥�26 of Hanford, Calif., one of the residence鈥檚 junior advisors, took matters into her own hands by holding the door open.

鈥淵ou get to meet and welcome people this way,鈥� she said.