Back in 2001, I spent a weekend in Edinburgh, Scotland, with a classmate
in a five-week summer program in Northampton, England. As our kilted
tour guide led us through the city, my friend remarked on how neat it
was to be in Edinburgh, as she was from Edinboro, Pennsylvania. I was
somewhat surprised that, after visiting Dublin, London, Cambridge and a
number of other fascinating cities, our time in Edinburgh turned out to
be my favorite part of that five-week trip - though if our week-long
stay in Galway hadn’t been cancelled, my conclusion might have been
different. But it’s a gorgeous city, brimming with history, culture and
natural beauty, not to mention oodles of appealing accents. Edinboro is
no Edinburgh. But it’s still a pleasant town that I’ve gotten to know a
lot better since my brother started attending college at the university
there in 2006.
Edinboro is about a 40-minute drive away from
where I live in Erie, Pennsylvania. That’s an easy distance for us to
travel, especially on weekends, so we’ve made it out there many times.
The campus is easy to navigate, and one of the things I like about it is
that many of the streets have Scotland-themed names. Expect to see a
lot of plaid when you go to Edinboro, and if you’re lucky (well,
depending on your musical tastes), you might catch the sounds of
bagpipes on a breeze. I have a couple of times, and it’s definitely
added a smile to my day.
In addition to permanent fixtures of
the campus that reflect a Scottish heritage, Edinboro has the Highland
Games, a weekend event full of traditional food and music that offers
opportunities to compete in such areas as dance, fiddle-playing and
drumming, as well as rigorous sporting events. Usually, there seems to
be at least a bit of rainy weather to go along with the festivities, but
that doesn’t dampen many spirits. It’s a really neat tradition that
helps establish Edinboro’s unique identity. The University also has a
Pipe Band, and its fight song is a version of Scotland the Brave.
Edinboro attracts students from a wide variety of backgrounds and
interests, but a particularly strong focus is art. That’s what attracted
Nathan, who is majoring in Painting. He’s taken a number of intensive
courses on subjects ranging from Print-making to Woodworking, which
resulted in a handsome table that resided in our living room for most of
last year. Now that he’s nearing the end of his time at Edinboro, he
has the opportunity to display his work more prominently; in December,
he had his own show in the Bates Gallery in Loveland Hall, which
featured portraits he had done in various media. He has been extremely
happy with his instructors in this area. Many of his fellow art students
come to Edinboro with an interest in animation; the university has
produced several graduates who went on to work for places like Disney,
Pixar and Industrial Light and Magic. Edinboro University is also known
for being extremely accessible to disabled students. Wheelchairs are a
common sight, as it has one of the largest populations of handicapped
students in the country.
Another area of interest for Nathan
has been performing arts. This department is not as prominent as the
visual arts, and the primary performance space, the Diebold Center for
the Performing Arts is fairly small, though it is an attractive and
comfortable theatre. He has had the chance to both act in and direct
plays there, and I have always been impressed with the caliber of
performances that we have seen from all students involved.
Currently, Edinboro’s president is Dr. Jeremy Brown. Hailing from
Manchester, he has been at Edinboro a bit longer than Nathan has, and he
has shown himself to be a passionate, hands-on leader, working
tirelessly to promote the university in the greater Erie area and
beyond. He’s also made an effort to get to know the students through a
variety of campus events, and on the whole he has been the most visible
president they’ve had in quite some time.
Edinboro University
is home to about 8000 students, with about 400 faculty. It offers 15
intercollegiate sports and more than 100 different student organizations
along with more than 100 degree programs and upwards of 50 minors. The
585-acre campus includes 43 buildings and scenic woods and fields, as
well as a lake where Nathan often strolls to observe the ducks. While
I’m still partial to my own college campus of Penn State Erie, the
Behrend College, Edinboro is a very attractive place to visit,
particularly during the autumn when all of the trees are changing color.
Winter, on the other hand, can be problematic because Edinboro gets so
much snow; on a few occasions, we’ve missed out on events because the
weather was so prohibitive. Full-time tuition per semester ranges from
about $3700 for an undergrad who is a PA resident to $6500 for a
graduate student who is from out of state. On-campus housing is about
$2400, while most meal plans cost upwards of $1000.
Near the
campus are several other housing options; my brother has lived in two
different apartment complexes and found both to be satisfactory. Away
from campus, there are plenty of places to go in terms of shopping and
eating. Perkins is a favorite hangout for college students, as are a
couple of local pizza places. In the summertime, an ice cream stand on
the way out of town is a popular fixture. There are several small,
locally-owned shops where a variety of unique items can be found, and
for the basics, there’s a Walmart, at which a kilted piper version of
the yellow smiley face is painted on the wall in the entryway. The
Millcreek Mall and Peach Street, Erie’s central shopping area, is only
about a twenty-minute drive away.
I don’t know when I’m going
to make it to Edinburgh again. But it’s nice to know that I can always
get a little taste of Scotland by traveling to Edinboro, and though I
haven’t attended any classes there myself, the university has certainly
turned out to be a good fit for my brother.
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