*Western Illinois*

A Tri Sigma sophomore is in Waggoner Hall, sitting in Biology class…
As the professor lectures on the biogeochemical processes of ecosystems and the
communication of nerve cells, you’d think her chin would rest attentively on her fist
like “The Thinker…”
Instead her head tilts with her cheek in her palm,
In college, this is known as
“The Drinker.”
She is not a marble of deep thought, but is still hung-over at the thought
of how much alcohol the human body can consume.
Alas,
Tonight it’s Thirsty Thursday,
And she cannot wait to conduct another
Experiment.
Because after her sorority benefits thousands of children through the
Robbie Page Memorial, and
She and the Sigmas cram to ace another major exam,
It’s off to the beer garden on Campbell for a
Change of Pace,
&
As far as Adams Street—
it’s
Off to the Race…
To show that when it comes to the best
Midwest Parties:
Adams in Western Illinois
Is the place.

Like the contestants of the Mr. Greek University Pageant,
She and her sisters are more than Pretty Faces,
They’re purple violets that shed kindness with mild showers,
Then at night they storm the bars like wild flowers.

In lab she sits still as a
Stone deflated,
Her peers cannot observe it, but in fact:
She’s elated—
To be wearing a purple t-shirt reading Σ Σ Σ,
And to be in this Western family
Where every color
Is Related.

Follow ClydeAidoo.com for more poems from the Art of Mind and Alma Mater series shared daily. You can purchase Clyde Aidoo’s latest release, Alma Mater Vol. 3: The West, a poetic celebration of the top universities of the West by clicking the link below.

From Alma Mater Vol. 1: The Midwest. Available Now!

*Illinois Tech*

Next Stop:
35th-Bronzeville-IIT.
Doors Closing.

We are the Green Line that streamlines innovation with reputation—Opening worlds with a synergy driven by a mission and a vision. These lives in Chicago will be transformed by an international influence.
We can’t change the past,
But we can transfer it fast.
Providing our education with a raised destination on a platform with creative norms.

Our youth is a train that only fails when it is derailed.

We believe in recharging our minds with modernism and distinction, building on the wavelengths of our distinctive strengths. With the instinctive honing inventions like the first mobile phone.
Through IIT, we can pick up and still leave where we were;
Talking on your main line while switching to a Red Line:
Call it a Two-Way Transfer.
We have activated the minds of Martin Cooper, Valdas Adamkus, Jack Steinberger—international and local minds who through I-Tech did find:
We still have a long way to go,
but the journey begins
In Chicago.

Ideas exchanged over supper at the Commons,
At stimulating concerts from town artists like Common,
&
Inside the avant-garde MTCC:
The spectacular structure of IIT.
This is where we take off and go beyond the rails,
A mission with sincere ethics
Never Fails…
For it never stops until the destination is reached…

The aim is never easy;
To arrive,
You must reach.

Our stop is the future.

A new train of motivated movers just stepped off,
New Scarlet Hawks now prepare to take off.

This is Illinois Institute of Technology.

Doors Open.

Follow ClydeAidoo.com for sample poems from the Alma Mater and Art of Mind series. You can purchase the newly released Alma Mater Vol. 2: The Northeast, a poetic celebration of the top universities of the Northeast below.