Looming in the southeast corner of campus, daunting and dark, sits the Davis Science Center. The building referred to as ‘Davis’ is home to the college’s math and computer science departments, two of the most rigorous majors at the college. Many of the students pursuing these majors dwell in Davis, taking advantage of the dozens of computers and ceiling length chalkboards, which they decorate with complex math problems that would make the average human head explode. There are, no doubt, some people who camp out in Davis for long days and nights, torturing themselves with code and arithmetic. For some students, their time spent in Davis has starved them of human interaction outside of the building. As a result, tight bonds have been formed amongst those who squat in the science center, hence why I’ve chosen to call them ‘the dwellers of Davis.’
I visited Davis on a gloomy Monday, before a busy week of exams in many math classes. Ava Wu `28 was the first person I ran into. She was frantically studying vector calculus in preparation for her exam on Tuesday. When asked how she was feeling, she momentarily glanced away from the chalkboard, replied “stressed,” and promptly turned back around. I pointed out the lack of windows in the building to which she replied “the lack of natural light helps you lock in.”
Curious as to why a student would devote so much of their time and energy to a concept as abstract as math, in as daunting a building as Davis, I asked math major Tim Gatto `28. He said, “Math is like lots of little puzzles, and puzzles are fun!” Wu agreed, “puzzles are fun.” Robbie Bennett `27, a computer science major, explained that he pursued computer science because it was “fascinating,” and enjoyed Davis’s vending machines. Ruby Dwyer `28, a recent math major, was at the large table central to the second floor, where various math students sat studying. She was preparing for the same test as Wu; “The nice thing about Davis is knowing you’re going to find someone in your class who is doing math that can help you.”
Wu and Dwyer both excitedly called over Pedro Alves `26, a student they claimed was “a Davis legend.”Alves is a math and physics major, with a minor in computer science. When asked how much time he spends daily in Davis, he mumbled “I spend more time here than I spend in my room,” calculating approximately 10 hours a day. His favorite thing about Davis, other than the chalkboards, was the social environment: “From a math standpoint this is a great place to collaborate. It is a social place for math people, and math is a social subject.” Michael Tenkorang `26, a computer science and math major, remarked that he also spends 8 hours a day in Davis. His favorite thing about the building is simply, “the boards!”
Walking by, one math student explained that she enjoyed the Davis atmosphere because “you feel the pressure to do the work.” “We jokingly say Davis is our home because we spend a lot of time here,” her friend chimed in. The student then said, “It’s a borderline prison.” Dwyer `28, sitting nearby, then said “so, by transitive property, your home is a prison?” to which everyone in the room laughed. I didn’t get it.
Unsure if they were joking, I followed up with Luke Phytila `28, a math sciences and computer science major, who I asked earlier to describe Davis in one sentence. He admitted, “I don’t know, I was thinking about math too much.”
The chalkboards surrounding me in Davis were covered in algebra, art, chemistry, calculus, and even quotes from Colombian writer, Garcia Marquez. These chalkboards truly reflected the liberal arts education that Colby College preaches. One person didn’t write all these things, yet knowing students, like me, had the capacity to solve advanced math and chemistry problems, draw beautiful pictures, and study the impactful quotes on the boards was an unexpected comfort of the building.
~ Molly Garvey `28
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