The Conant and Sawyer dorms; staples of boarding life for years, will not house students next year.

Due to the new quad project at Williston, Conant and Sawyer houses will no longer be dorms following the 2017-2018 year. They will continue to house some faculty as the school begins to adjust to the new landscape.

These dorms hold the unique distinction of being the furthest dorms from any main part of our campus. This distance has bred hatred, frustration, and anger amongst those who have lived there.

“Parts of it were awful,” 2017 graduate Nick Schofield said, “I never woke up to get breakfast the two years I lived there because it was so far.”

Yet with this hatred also instills a sense of comraderie in the students who live there throughout the year. They band together and make these dorms their identity.

“We’re in it together,” junior Greg Iverson, who lived in Conant last year and chose to remain there this year as a proctor, stated. “Yeah it may be a rickety old dorm in an awful location, but it’s our rickety old dorm in an awful location. I’ll defend this place until I die.”

Part of this sense of pride and togetherness stems from how the dorms themselves are run. Speaking from my experiences in Conant last year; we were a family. Dorm Head Kyle Hanford lives there with his wife and three kids, who are routinely running around and playing in the dorm. If you live in Conant, you’re a big brother to Ryan, Will, and Taylor, also known as Tiggs or Tiggee.

Across the way is Sawyer, cousin to the Conant House. While from the outside it looks just like Conant, the dynamic is far different.

“In Sawyer, your dormmates are your brothers,” said senior Noah Clack, who lived in Sawyer his sophomore year.

Sawyer boys are always seen together. They travel in packs, from my experience. No matter the destination there are always more than one of them.

The camaraderie bred in Sawyer is unmatched. You don’t see this from people in Ford, or Hathaway, or even either end of Mem. That will be something sorely missed next year on campus.

No student will admit to actually liking living in the Conant or Sawyer houses. But as a former occupant myself, I will start what I hope to be a precedent for the future; I loved living in Conant.

Sure it was far from everything, and the water was barley ever hot, and it always smelled like raw fish, but my best friends lived right next door to me and I loved it. I will miss the houses next year.