My grandfather used to say: “Provincialism is the inability to imagine that there is something beyond one’s locale. And there is nothing more provincial than a New Yorker.” Until recently, I unashamedly fit into both those categories—and proudly, to boot. I was thus somewhat chagrined when I arrived at Stern and found that students hailed from many of the fifty states, including Alaska, and from countries spanning every continent except Antarctica. But as my knowledge of geography expanded, my perspective broadened as well, resulting in a chink in my armor of New-York-centrism and pride. There are definite advantages to being from out-of-town. As both a second-generation New Yorker who lives at home and commutes to school, I set out to discover the advantages that out-of-towners have at Stern.
Out-of-towners appreciate the independence that comes from living too far for parental pampering. Elisheva Dorfman, a sophomore at Stern, believes this independence played a key role in her life. As a true freshman, she got engaged and married at the young age of nineteen. She believes that she only had the maturity to take this monumental step because she was living on her own, far from her hometown of Boston. This independence extends to the academic realm as well. Esther O’Campo, a junior hailing from Anchorage, Alaska, explains that being from out-of-town “forces you to take complete responsibility for your academic success.” Said O’Campo, “Although everyone has to figure out what works for them in terms of their course-load and study habits and sleep schedule, I think for out-of-towners it’s more intense because unless you tell your parents about that stuff, they don’t know. They won’t see you on Shabbos and notice that you’re dozing off in your soup and ask if you’ve been sleeping.”
Out-of-towners also tend to be physically in Stern more often than students who live nearby. Campus life becomes home. Ariella Sieger, a junior from Los Angeles, views staying in for Shabbos as a plus: “You can really take advantage of being part of the Stern community since there’s no pressure to return home for Shabbos and weekends.”
When not staying in for Shabbat, having to make weekend plans every can be a source of tension for out-of-town students. Mrs. Shoshana Schechter, Judaic Studies teacher at Stern and director of the Mechina program, cautions: “It’s not easy being far from home, and even more so if one is not part of the Orthodox New York Jewish communal network. Students at Stern are constantly running around the world to reach out to people, Jews and non-Jews. Be sensitive to reach out to your fellow students down the hall, in your class, or in the elevator, and invite them for Shabbat.” This, she says, benefits in-town hosts as much as the out-of-town guests: “Out-of-towners feel cared about and welcomed. For locals, the diversity expands their network beyond what they know, and enhances their own college experiences. It’s a win-win situation.”
According to the Office of Institutional Research, students from outside the New York area comprise almost half of the Stern student body, with 575 in-towners to 524 out-of-towners. But the contributions they make to the New-York-grounded Stern College are felt far beyond their numbers. Aside from the cool hometowns and even cooler accents, out-of-towners bring a host of new perspectives to the community.