“Flunk Day” at Knox College…Located in Galesburg, IL, the private, liberal arts college sanctions a day when students play and enjoy, rather than study and fret. It’s usually late in the school year ( late April or early May), and is never announced in advance. Only a tiny group of staff and administration know the date for planning reasons.
Many try and guess the date but it’s “top secret,” students are kept in the dark until the campus-wide announcement is made early the day of the event, as early as 5 a.m. I’m not sure how the word gets out, but the news spreads fast. Classes and normal activities are cancelled for the day, allowing students to “let off steam” ahead of final exams. The tradition dates back to at least 1922.
Activities have changed with the times. There are “bounce houses”, bubble blowing, bands, arts and crafts, uh, some drinking, and at one time there was a mud pit.
The Galesburg Register-Mail almost always coverd the festivities, and it always made for good visuals and fun photos.
In April of 2000 I was working the early shift on Flunk Day, Monday, April 24th. The paper had gone digital (cameras) not long before. I headed to campus with a fairly new Nikon D1 body (2.3 megapixels) and a couple of lenses. The new technology was pretty cool as you could see what you were getting by viewing the review screen on the back of the body. The drawback was the camera had a DX sensor, which meant the lenses were not “true” to their focal length. There was a “crop factor” which made the frame tighter than it would be with film (or later, FX, full frame, sensors.).
Anyway… I dug in and made my way around the various things going on. The mud pit instantly caught my attention! By dragging a hose to an open area near some dorms, all it took was a lot of water and the constant stomping and trampling of feet to make a mess in a fairly short amount of time. The students were loving it.
I got in there as close as I dared, using the 24-70mm zoom lens and choosing a low angle by kneeling. I photographed several students, staying as long as needed until I felt like I “had something,” then walked the short distance back to the newsroom.
In editing, I felt like I had something better than average, maybe a “keeper,” portfolio worthy. All of the elements were there in this one frame. Permission was granted to submit it to the Associated Press and I did so, sending it to the Chicago Bureau.
The photo was published in newspapers all over the world. The San Francisco Chronicle’s online, SF Gate chose it as one of its pictures of the day. The photo was also seen in Japan… by the father of the young man swinging in the mud pit. The father called the son to express displeasure. “I didn’t send you half way around the world to go to school, only to play in the mud,” is something like how the conversation went, according to Takahiko, the student in the photo, who told me this later on. He didn’t care, he had fun that day.
My co-worker, Rich Dickin, was careful to save his original files. Even though we shot JPEG, Rich kept the uncropped “master copy” versions of anything he felt was important. I did not, I kept the cropped versions used for the paper. The original file has a tad more room on the left and right sides, giving more context of the hands that are holding the young man by his hands and feet. I wish I had that file but I don’t.
Flunk Day has yet to happen this year. My prediction is May 4th. That’s a Monday, and Mondays seem to be a favorite day. It has fallen on the 4th several times before, and it’s easy to remember because it’s also the anniversary of the Kent State shootings. That’s another story.
Screen shot from the San Francisco Chronicle’s SF Gate.
Some Flunk Day history. (Courtesy of Knox College)