Finding a Place in the Hampden-Sydney Culture
by: Matthew MacFarland ‘11Visiting Irish student finds some culture shocks and welcoming faces at H-SC
Every incoming class of students at Hampden-Sydney includes at least a few international students, here either for the duration of a four-year undergraduate education or for a briefer study abroad program. Lorcan Duffy is one of the latter: an Irish student from County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, Duffy will spend two semesters at Hampden-Sydney to immerse himself in a new culture and new experiences.
He’s here on the Business Education Initiative Scholarship and is in his junior year at the University of Ulster in Jordanstown to study American business markets as a part of his Business Studies degree, which, unlike the more theoretical groundings of an economics degree, serves to give a student fundamental knowledge in all areas of a business model, including marketing, communication, and human resources. The program requires that he maintain at least a 3.0 GPA, take 15 credit hours each of the two semesters he studies here, and that he give six presentations on the experience once back in Ireland. Through the scholarship he earns academic credit for the University of Ulster and learns to “adapt in a culture I’ve never been in before.”
While that cultural difference isn’t too large—he’s studying in a western English-speaking country, after all—Duffy has found certain “small things” that make for a distinctive cultural experience. “There’s an academic culture shock—I’m not in a lecture theater with 200 students,” he said. “And classes start at 9:15 back home, not 8:30.”
“Everyone’s so enthusiastic here. When John Sheetz collected me from the airport, and I got here, my first impression was ‘wow, these people are really for me.’ Anything I needed or wanted, I could call on them.”
Lorcan Duffy with President Howard
Duffy arrived earlier than regular students in August to go through International Orientation, which included an introduction to the college, a tour of campus and Farmville, and meeting the “hierarchy of the college,” including President Howard.
Another culture shock (one that may be more specific to the culture of Hampden-Sydney) Duffy found was “the ‘gentlemanly culture’—wearing suits all the time, especially to football games.”
What seems to have impressed Duffy the most, however, has been the Honor Code. “It’s so secure, it just keeps everyone secure. It’s unheard of, a phenomenon. You wouldn’t think something like that would work, but it does. Signing the Honor Pledge was something like entering the military—you’re becoming a part of the college values. It’s really cool to be a part of it.”
As far as the social scene goes, Duffy misses the “parties during the week,” commonplace at home at university where “friends and I would go to night clubs once or twice a week.”
But he’s found that he doesn’t have enough free time to stop and miss too much about home: “I’ve created so many friends here, students and professors. It’s a new network—it almost makes me want to stay here.”
How did Duffy end up at tiny Hampden-Sydney? H-SC was on the list of colleges that participate in the program. He searched through the list, looking for colleges that met a few criteria he had in mind, including a strong economics program and the chance to play collegiate golf.
Interestingly, he didn’t realize it was all-male at first—it wasn’
t until Duffy was able to speak with an international alumnus of the college that he found out.
Duffy spoke with Donal Mullen, an Irish student who studied at H-SC in 2007. “I couldn’t wait to go after talking to him,” Duffy says. “I had great impressions [of Hampden-Sydney] before even going.”
Duffy’s school at home in Northern Ireland is comparable in size to Longwood, but he finds that the class size and personality of Hampden-Sydney add tremendously to the educational experience. “There’s a close network here. Everyone’s friendly to everyone. Everyone at university has their own clique, but not here.”
Aspects of the community like that friendliness have made Duffy’s transition much easier. “Everyone wants to know me,” he said; “I feel like I’ve said ‘I’m from Northern Ireland’ about 1,200 times, once for every student and professor here.” The academic rigor of the college has proved to be one of the more difficult transitions, in particular learning a foreign language, which wasn’t a high priority at Duffy’
s high school.
One of the strongest similarities between American and Irish culture, Duffy says, is that sports are taken just as seriously there as they are here. Different sports are played—you won’t find a Gaelic football or “hurling” match in central Virginia—
but the level of intensity and fan loyalty does not change.
Universities have sports rivals; Duffy’s University of Jordanstown has a long-standing rivalry with Queen’s College, but it’s “not to the same extent” as Hampden-Sydney’s own rivalry with Randolph-Macon. “There aren’t any badges saying Beat Queen’s.”
Duffy plays golf for Jordanstown, but the collegiate-level organization of sports is much less focused than it is here in the States, even at a Division III school. Scholarships exist at Jordanstown for the top players to give them free access to lessons and membership at clubs, but there are no official practices in which the team as a whole participates. “I’ve really enjoyed the road trips, enjoyed practicing, giving a European golf perspective to my teammates.”
It’s the little things, though, that contribute most to Duffy’s experience here, like “working out early in the morning and talking to as many people as possible.” But there’s one other thing that Duffy thinks will stay with him after he leaves, something more than the sum of those little things: “being a Hampden-Sydney gentleman.”
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