The Power of Charisma: An Inquiry into First Year Trips Croo

Applications for First Year Trips Croo just opened, and it is a highly sought after bunch. Each year, a select group of students take on the task of welcoming the incoming class to our beloved college and all of its quirks. Whether you’re a repeat applicant, croo-curious, or just plain baffled by such an eccentric group, we’re here to pull back the curtain and give an insider’s perspective into what being a croo-ling really means. This is Jack-O, Inside Look.

I sat down with ’23+1 Asher Berenson who has served as captain of Hanover Croo — fondly known as H-Croo — for the past three years. Asher has danced many dances on the Robinson Hall steps. I asked him what it was about croo that drew him back every year.

“*SNIFFS* Yeah. Yeah. Yes! When you’re up there it’s just, I mean, there’s no better feeling. SERIOUSLY, none. *SNIFFS* It’s just like you’re so fucking wired man. Ha Ha! You’re just in there and it’s the moment and you. And the music just takes you over. IT OWNS YOU. You just become a dancing machine, all you can do, DANCE. *SNIFFS* Like even if the world was ending you would just fucking dance along. HA HA! *SNIFFS* And the music dude. FUCK! The music. It’s better than sex I swear to GOD. I would KILL, MURDER, to feel that way again.”

But despite Asher’s glowing reviews, some first years still feel apprehensive about applying. Abby Yu ‘27 expressed self-doubt, worrying she wouldn’t be able to live up to the precedent set by the croolings before her.

“I don’t know, it just seems really intense. They were all so spirited. I remember I went to one of the informational socials. I had a few drinks and next thing I know I’m in the middle of the forest, covered in green paint, hailing a burning effigy of Dean Brown. I vividly recall seeing the all-powerful crew mother birth her croolings. I wept and wept. The concept of the self as I knew it dissolved into the vast ocean that was reality. I was merely a drop. Then we all sprouted wings and flew into the sky to migrate south. I didn’t have thoughts anymore. I just was. Weird that my appetite was suppressed for a while after that though.”

Abby will Join H-Croo this coming fall. Thank you for tuning in. This has been Jack-O, Inside Look. To learn more about the First Year Trips experience, walk upstairs at a dance scene and stumble into a room of people wearing white tuxedos suspiciously huddled around a coffee table. 

-NN ’27