<p>Hey, current swattie here.
I scoured this site a lot before heading to Swat, and though I was happy with my choice to come to Swat, I would always joke with my HS friends about how I wouldn’t be partying, how everybody would be so much smarter than me, and how all the conversations would revolve around Plato and Machiavelli. </p>
<p>Cue to first few weeks of school. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that Swat is not just all work and no play. Yes, we work hard (or at least some of us do), but we also play hard as well. There is usually at least one party going on in Paces/the Frats/Olde Club every weekend, in addition to Pub Nite which is every Thursday in Paces. I’d say that the biggest parties of the year are Halloween and Gender**** (excuse the asterisks), where the majority of the school comes out to rage. I’ve been to parties where there were only a handful of people; others where I couldn’t move an inch to save my life (beware of Freshmen Disorientation!)</p>
<p>Other than parties with alcohol, there are also Olde Club shows, fundraisers, musical guests, acapella groups, comedy groups, athletic events, art shows, dance performances (RnM is a huge hit), etc. Some weekends are dead and there’s only one thing going on; some weekends are absolutely stock-full of events. </p>
<p>Besides the party-scene, a great thing about Swat is that you’ll find a group of friends who mutually want to spend their night doing something different. While some kids go out to party (and when I say out I mean 5 mins away), others stay in to watch Harry Potter reruns, play board games, watch YouTube videos, watch Modern Family, go online window shopping, and just generally hang out in a non-alcoholic way. There are also non-alcoholic events that are hosted by the DART team, as well as other organizations. While Swat is no Penn State, there are definitely parties here. Some suck, some are awesome, some you can’t remember. I’m not trying to emphasize the party-scene because I want you all to get crunk and crazy - rather, I know that I, and a lot of my friends, had no idea that there would even be parties at Swat. The Swat online presence generally communicates that we are super-nerdy and super-dry. While there is nothing wrong with that, it should also be stressed that Swat is diverse - not only with skin colors and interests, but also with social activities :)</p>
<p>Also, can I just say, I was told by the internets that Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer’ was practically the school anthem. Um…no. At least not in the last few years. I’d say the most frequently played song at parties is ‘Closing Time’, which is played at the end of every Pub Nite. Other than that, there’s no real ‘school anthem’.</p>