Freshman Laurie Cartledge signs the book
Erskine College Freshman Women "Sign the Book"
"What a special class you are," said Erskine alumna and first lady Sarah Ellen Carson, featured speaker at the college’s 79th annual Signing of the Book ceremony. Freshman women gathered in the Bowie Arts Center Wednesday evening to participate in an Erskine tradition that some of their mothers and grandmothers enjoyed before them.
"You are the envy of many sophomores, juniors, and seniors, and you are the envy of many alumnae,” Carson told the women of the Class of 2006, Erskine's second largest class in a decade. "You get to live in the beautifully renovated Carnegie Dormitory.
“Tonight as you sign the book, I challenge you to make this a conscious commitment, to realize the opportunity you have been given to be a part of the Erskine family.”
Carson, a 1967 graduate and E.B. Kennedy Scholar who majored in Early Childhood Education, recounted highlights of her first year at Erskine as she encouraged women students to “look out for the needs of other people, pray for one another, and stand up for what’s good and true and pure” as they begin their college experience.
“There are many special memories I hold in my heart from my freshman year,” said Carson, the wife of Erskine president Dr. John Carson. “I don’t recall who drew my name on the night of the Erskine Soiree, but I do remember the young man who asked to walk me back to the dorm. He’s still my Erskine sweetheart, and we’ve been married for 35 years.”
During her freshman year, Carson said, she and her classmates were required to follow many regulations. Such rules, as well as planned activities, were designed to draw students closer together. She noted that freshman women were not allowed to have cars on campus, and few upperclassmen had cars to lend them.
”And we weren’t allowed to go home for visits before Thanksgiving,” she said. “We were together a lot. We had no locks on our doors back then and we just had to learn to trust each other and get along.”
Carson said that both planned events and unexpected occurrences helped the freshman women bond with each other. She remembered “Rat Week,” in which freshmen were forced to perform menial chores for upperclassmen, and were marched down Main Street dressed in silly clothes.
On a more serious occasion that year, Carson said, all the freshman women were evacuated from the dorm one night and watched together as Bonner Hall burned and the wind sent sparks onto Carnegie’s roof, threatening to set it ablaze.
”We weren’t allowed to go back inside for any of our belongings,” she said. “But some of the boys were permitted to go in and retrieve some of our things – we had a hard time later sorting through the piles trying to find anything that belonged to us.” In the early hours of the morning, the women went back into Carnegie, thankful that it had not caught fire.
Carson said she grew so attached to her Erskine friends that year that although she wanted to see her family and high school friends at home, she was ready to return to school even before the Christmas holidays were over.
“When it was finally time to go back to Erskine, my parents put me on a Trailways bus, and I was so excited,” said Carson.
“Then a policeman flagged down the bus in Saluda and said my family was sending someone to pick me up – classes had been delayed because of snow. I just lost control,” she said. “I cried all the way back to Columbia. I’m afraid I hurt my family’s feelings.”
Carson, the mother of three daughters and a son, all Erskine graduates, said, “I know a lot has changed in dorm life since I was in Carnegie. But my three daughters carry many warm memories with them, just as I do.
“I pray God will give you grace to enjoy Him and one another, and keep you close to one another in the years ahead,” said Carson.
Several Erskine seniors led this year’s Signing of the Book ceremony. Former Student Government Association president Laura Williams welcomed the freshmen, and Sarah Nickles, president of the Council for Exceptional Children, gave an invocation.
Erskine Fly Girls captain Jaime Pace introduced the speaker. Elisabeth Jones, president of the South Carolina Student Legislature, led the recital of the honor pledge.
Jessica Gullick, president of the Philo Women, conducted the signing of the book, and senior class president Marianne Vanderford led in the singing of the Alma Mater.
Rotoract president Erin Hopkins offered a closing prayer, and Sara Langer, president of Chi Women, dismissed the meeting.
