Kenyon College inhabits a remote vicinity within the corn fields of Gambier, Ohio, containing only 1,662 students chosen to represent the schools daunting 23.8% acceptance rate.  Regarded as an ivy league, Kenyon is known for it’s prestigious academics and famous alumni. I was granted the honorable privilege of visiting Kenyon after receiving an official visit invitation from their head swim coach. Kenyon blew me away in every aspect, from its dining hall whose architecture distinctly resembles that of Hogwarts to the complex class discussions within unique subjects that I was able to observe.

John Green, the sick mastermind who ripped our hearts out in “The Fault in Our Stars” but also aided us in learning history through Crash Course with endless comic relief and knowledgeable facts, is one of the famous individuals who graduated from Kenyon. I know, it blew my mind too. Laura Hillenbrand, the author of the highly acclaimed novel “Unbroken,” graduated from Kenyon as well. Not only did Ranson Riggs, the author of “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children,” also graduate from Kenyon, but the actress who plays Miss Peregrine in the film adaption, Eva Green, did too. Even Ted (Josh Radnor) from “How I Met Your Mother” graduated from there. The fact that all of these famous individuals obtained their education from Kenyon and created an intensely successful life for themselves fueled my interest in the school.

It was evident that the students at Kenyon are serious about their education and make the most of it. During my visit, I had the chance to sit in on two classes and observe the dynamics. The first class I encountered was an English class titled Victorian Ghosts which was focused on the analyzation of British literature. I was entranced by the intricate discussions brought forth by each student as they dissected a passage from Charles Dickens’s, “Great Expectations,” clearly more complex than high school class discussions. I took a quick liking to the class sizes that ranged from 5 to 20 student, a learning environment more suitable for a student like myself.

Everywhere you turn you’ll find an array of trees channeling sunlight through their leaves. The campus is beautiful because of this, and the cathedral-like buildings give off a feeling as if you’ve traveled back to a different era. There is a long stretch of dirt road that spans the length of the campus called Middle Path. This is where you’ll find the coffee house, the bookstore, the campus offices and the occasional buggee transporting a humble Amish man intending to sell his homemade jam. You know that you’re in the middle of nowhere when you live by the Amish. It’s simply an Ohio thing.

There are a few superstitions involved in Kenyon such as stepping on the college seal at the entrance to the dining hall will guarantee that you will never graduate. They believe that when you are walking on Middle Path, if you and your friend walk on opposite sides of a small pillar in its center, your friendship will cease to exist. Despite these unnerving beliefs, Kenyon College left me in awe. The academics are rigorous and the sports are elite. I hope that one day enough people will know about the school so that when I talk to them about it they know I’m talking about Kenyon and not Kenya.