A piping hot Neapolitan pizza at Crust after practice. A vanilla latte from The Spring Street Market and Café on a cozy Sunday morning. A foil-wrapped stationary set from Where’d You Get That?! for your best friend’s birthday. Many students and faculty at the College frequent Spring Street establishments — and oftentimes, they’re served by high school students. In interviews with the Record, several of these students shared their perspectives on the College and its community.
Ava Anagnos, a first-year at Smith College who worked at the Purple Pub during her last two years at Mount Greylock Regional School, said that working and living in the Town made her more enthusiastic about attending college. “Living in a college town and growing up observing college students made me really excited to be one of them and to have that independence that most elementary school [and] high school students are looking for,” she said.
But Phineas Inman, a senior at Mount Anthony Union High School and a cashier at Spring Street Market, noted that the College isn’t all fun and games. “It seems like kids in Williamstown aren’t really party-motivated,” he said. “The kids that will come into the shop definitely will have their laptops and, like, a book or something. They seem focused.”
Beyond students’ studious reputations, Inman told the Record that interactions with students at the College are not always positive. “You’ll get 50-50 — a lot of them are really nice and mature, but you’ll get occasional entitled people,” he said. “Kids are finally gaining freedom, and combined with — I mean, if you go to Williams, I assume a pretty decent amount of money — there’s definitely entitlement in that aspect.”
“If there’s a wait on sandwiches and it’s clearly really busy, people repetitively ask, ‘Is it done yet? Is it done yet?’” he added.
Inman also said that many students pay little regard to the price of their purchases. “They’ll just be like, ‘Oh, that’s everything,’ and they’ll just scan it with their phone,” he said.
Amelia Madrigal, a junior at Mount Greylock Regional School, has encountered a poor tipping culture among students at the College as an employee at Crust. “We’re paid a lot in tips,” she said. “There are a lot of people that don’t tip, which is hard, but it’s also understandable… Unless they’re with their parents — then they usually do.”
Quinn McDermott ’28, who grew up in the Town, added that he was also tipped poorly by students while working at Lickety Split. “If I had a big group of college students, I would know that I wouldn’t really be getting good tips,” he said.
However, McDermott observed that, for the most part, his interactions with the College’s students were positive. “I didn’t really meet any non-nice college students,” he said.
In addition to their interactions with students themselves, many of the high schoolers who work on Spring Street engage with the College through other avenues.
Madrigal, for example, has taken advantage of many of the College’s academic offerings. When she was younger, she attended a science camp at the College, and currently, she’s taking a class at the College through the Center for Learning in Action’s education outreach program, which allows Mount Greylock Regional School students with competitive GPAs and AP scores to do so at no cost. “It’s a great resource that people can tap into that’s pretty unique,” she said.
Anagnos has also enjoyed the community enrichment that college events brought to the Town. “I’ve always loved living in a college town,” she said. “When I was younger, I was super invested in all of the sports games and events, and it was fun because I felt a part of it even when I was in elementary school. It was really positive, as a member of just the Williamstown community, to feel that connected to the college community.”
Ange Tubbs-Baker, a senior at Berkshire Arts & Tech Charter in Adams and a retail clerk at Where’d You Get That?!, added that they enjoy attending events at the College. “It’s definitely cool to see all the events that either Williams puts on or just the Town in general — and just to see everybody flocked all around it and be so out and about,” they said.
While students at the College frequently attend on-campus events, Tubbs-Baker noticed that they may be missing out on other aspects of Williamstown culture. “I think there’s a lot more to do than [Williams students] think sometimes,” he said.
McDermott also senses a broader divide between the Town and the College. “There is a slight disconnect,” he said. “They are kind of separate worlds. I’ve now lived on both sides of that… I’ve been able to tell it’s definitely two different Williamstowns.”
McDermott attributes some of the separation to students’ absorption in their own lives and the College’s small and insular campus. “The College students live and have their own lives here, and the high schoolers and townspeople have their own lives here,” McDermott said. “There’s just not a lot of crossover.”
While Anagnos said she’s also encountered that disconnect while working at the Purple Pub, she pointed out that the isolation that some students at the College experience on campus is not often felt by people living in Town. “Especially for young kids growing up in Williamstown, it doesn’t feel like the bubble that it might feel like to Williams students that are coming in from other backgrounds,” she said.
McDermott said that the College and Town could benefit from a closer relationship, but he isn’t sure it’s a necessary or worthwhile effort. “Most Williams students are only here for a few years — I don’t really know how important or how helpful it can be if these people get really into the Town community, and then they all of a sudden leave,” he said.
While McDermott has experienced the Town from both in and outside of the College, other high schoolers told the Record that it was unlikely they would attend Williams. “I’d like to be able to leave Williamstown and try something new, try adulting in a different place,” Madrigal said.
While Tubbs-Baker also isn’t planning on applying to the College, they shared that many of their peers are. “A lot of my classmates are actually thinking about going to Williams,” he said. “Some have already applied, and they seem very happy about it.”
