Jesse Meadow, a senior at Connecticut College, is the latest to ponder the strange relationship the school has with New London, and to try to picture it
another way.
Conn students, while active as volunteers in the city’s schools and social service agencies, are rather invisible in New London.
Maybe, Meadow reasoned, they haven’t really looked around the city.
So, she organized the campus group Lincc, or Linking New London and Connecticut College, whose debut event in the city was a photo contest where contestants submitted photos shot, off campus, in New London.
“Photography is something that everyone can relate to,” she said. “A lot of our students have artistic talents and want to do something good for the community.”
Called Through A Camel’s Eye—camels are Conn’s mascot—the exhibition at Hygienic Art Gallery featured 15 photos culled from more than 100 submissions, all of them New London subjects.
The show was juried, and the winner, the black and white Fingerprint of Light by Stephanie Blennerhassett, depicted an empty bench on the Waterfront Park with sunshine reflected off the Thames River.
Blennerhassett’s photograph will hang in the entrance of the Crozier-Williams student center on the campus.
But participants in the photo contest each learned something about New London while they wandered around the city with their cameras.
Maria Figliola, a student from Amherst, Mass., said she never really spent time in downtown New London before the contest, and came away intrigued by the city’s buildings and houses.
She happened upon a house at the intersection of Green and Tilley streets that is half blue and half green.
“I liked the pattern of the colors,” she said.
Sarah Turchin, a senior from Newburyport, Mass., took her camera to Ocean Beach Park on the first warm day of spring in order to take a break from her thesis.
“A lot of the students have not been to Ocean Beach,” she said. “It’s a really interesting place.”
Turchin wandered on the beach and photographed two people flying a kite, with one of Ocean Beach’s iconic old-fashioned viewers in the foreground.
Kelsey Jacobson, a senior from Alaska, snapped a picture of her friend wearing a Connecticut College sweatshirt with Groton’s Thames Street in the background.
Jacobson said that campus life and studying tend to occupy most of the students’ time.
“Sometimes it’s hard to inspect everything in the city,” she said. “We’re only here for four years.”
But as the city’s selection of shops and retail grows, more and more students are trying the city on for size.
For Corey Lalime, 19, of New Fairfield, students are beginning to shed the mindset that New London is a violent place.
“The city does not deserve that reputation,” he said.
That view is good news to the city’s businesses, who see Connecticut College students, and their parents, as an untapped market.
David Lewis, co-owner of Flavours of Life, a fair-trade import shop, said he was really impressed with the amount of students who attended the opening. Lewis is also on the Lincc board.
“The students really contribute to the city,” he said.
Joe Celli, the downtown development coordinator, has also been involved in nurturing a stronger relationship between the city and campus.
“This exhibition is proof that a social and cultural seed has been planted,” he said. “My office is planning for more outreach and a deeper understanding of what New London has to offer Conn students.”
Connecticut College President Leo Higdon, who attended the opening, congratulated Meadow on organizing the exhibition.
“Jesse really took a leadership role,” he said. “These photographs are a great blend of the college and community; it’s a win-win for Conn and the city.”
As Lincc continues its work, Lewis said there is an opportunity to attract more students to New London.
Rebecca Wells, a senior at Connecticut College, sees the relationship between New London and the college as an evolving one.
“We are continuing to build that bridge,” she said.