Do a large number of students at Kenyon smoke? Just returned from a visit and we saw a lot of smokers. Perhaps it was more noticeable because it was a rainy day, and those were the only students spending time outdoors. This is a concern to my daughter. No judging here, just want an honest idea of the student body. Thanks!
I had a similar experience at Penn. Saw several smokers as we crossed the campus on the tour. I hadn’t seen any at the previous four schools we visited so it was off putting. But at least at Penn, you could attribute it to the fact that it is huge and in the middle of a city so these may not have been students. At Kenyon, no such excuse.
I have visited Kenyon uncountable times (my dad is an alum) and the only time that I saw smoking was, unfortunately, last year when I saw three guys walking together in Gambier smoking cigarettes. A rare scene that almost shocked me. At first I wondered if they were even students, but they obviously were. I figured it was just three guys experimenting with tobacco. Frankly, they hardly looked like they knew what they were doing (you can always tell if a person normally smokes or not). I hope that it is not a trend.
Unfortunately, cigarette smoking among college students is fairly common, and something I just don’t understand. If any generation should be aware of the risks, its this one. They’ve been bombarded with the message since birth.
Based on my observations having visited Kenyon 3 times and dozens of other LACs, I would put Kenyon a teensy bit above average on the smoking spectrum but not an outlier.
Thanks! We have visited 26 schools over the last year and a half, and I do not recall kids smoking ever coming to our attention before. It wasn’t even on her radar as very few of her high school classmates smoke. She has narrowed down her choices to either Kenyon or one other school (which she will revisit next week) and as she is having a difficult time choosing which one to attend. As a family, I think we have each of the schools under a microscope to help her make a decision. As this is now on her pro/con list, it will be interesting to me to see how she rates the other school. A one day visit is such a short time to visit, we hate to make snap judgments on the student body!