Sound a little far-fetched? I know it did to me when the editor at my
summer internship pitched this story idea to me three weeks ago.
Sure Portland has a world-class bar scene, a vibrant music community,
and more burrito joints than you can shake a sustainably-harvested
stick at, but it hardly has that Columbus, Boston, or Gainesville vibe
that people normally associate with a college town.
Still, it’s hard to ignore 15,000 college students in a city of
70,000. From Frisbees over Eastern Prom, to pick-up soccer on Back
Bay, Portland is a young, active, socially progressive city that at
times, can feel like a state college campus sitting on some impossibly
prime real estate.
I had my doubts though. I mean, the city of Portland itself was,
admittedly, a driving factor in my decision to make a break from the
snow swept tundra of the UMaine campus, but if I had not already been
nearing that golden birthday of yore (the big 21), would I have been
able to muster up the same enthusiasm for this campus-by-the-sea?
This is a common complaint I’ve heard around campus. Sure, no one is
going to deny that Portland is the cultural, economic, and social
center of the state, but it can also be kind of a drag for anyone who
cannot legally shake off the mid-February blues with a beer, cocktail,
or packed, sweaty concert in one of the town’s many 21+ venues.
So here’s the conclusion I came to after hours spent interviewing
students of all ages, ambitions, and interests in the Greater Portland
area: it’s definitely a college down, by the numbers at least.
But this city and it’s unique set of hard-working, multi-talented
students defy categorization, refusing to even succumb to the notion
that a “college student” has to be of a certain age, or has to
graduate in a prescribed time.
Two years, and five or six night classes later, I feel like I’ve met
just about every type of college student there is in town.
From the young (14) to the more “seasoned students”, the full-time,
shuttle-jumping Po-Go academics to the second career students, working
a 9-to-5 to finance their 7-9:30 classes, there is a certain ambitious
element to Portland’s student populous that goes further in defining
the city as a college-town than any monstrous, 160,000 capacity
football stadium ever could.
So maybe it’s not your traditional college town, but arguably, it’s
way better. This is not a magical collegiate wonderland lost in it’s
own alcohol fueled delusions and sectioned off from the harsh reality
of “the real world” by an ivy-covered gate.
Portland’s student population is, by and large, a savvy, responsible
crowd – one that understands the value and importance of their
education because, well, it’s hard to blow off a class that you had to
spend a 50-hour week working retail at the Maine Mall to pay for.
But it’s also a city where education extends far beyond the classroom
– where an 18-year-old sometimes has to learn the ins-and-outs of
dealing with dubious landlords or memorize a Metro schedule to assure
that they can make it from class to their bartending shift with time
left over to grab a coffee.
So yes, Portland is a college town, begrudgingly maybe, but there an
undeniable vein of energy, ambition, and awareness that seems to break
the mold, and challenge the very definition of what a “college town”
can be.
Thank you for reading,
Matt Dodge