A Day in the Life of a Palmerite
Students at Palmer maintained a rigorous schedule. So what exactly did they do with their free time? The Tea House Recesses served as a time for students to visit the campus snack shop and grab a snack or hang out with their friends. At night only male students were allowed to visit the Tea House. 1930s graduate Artelia Bell Marsh Perry remembered, during a 2014 interview, there being one designated girl who would travel the dorm during leisure time and take orders, that girl would pass that order on to a male classmate who would pick up snacks and deliver them to Galen Stone Hall so girls could have a nighttime snack. This activity is explicitly prohibited in the 1962 student handbook.
On Friday nights after dinner students participated in a march of sorts. While the tradition may not resonate with students today, in the 1940s and 1950s it was a great way to spend a little time and have a little contact with a boy or a girl you were sweet on. After dinner concluded, students would move the tables and chairs out of the way and bring out a piano. Sometimes other instruments, like a saxophone, were brought out. When the music started playing students would invite each other to march around the dining hall (Artelia Bell Marsh Perry Oral History).
Bell Schedule
Bells are very important in our Palmer Daily Living.
Try to make them a part of you
Rising Bell 6:30a
Dressing 6:30–6:45a
Housekeeping Duties 6:45–7:10a
Warning Bell 7:10–7:15a
Morning Prayer (voluntary) 7:20–7:25a
Breakfast Bell 7:25–7:30a
*Singing of Grace 7:30–7:35a
*All students must be at their places.
Breakfast 7:35–7:50a
Getting Ready for School 7:50–8:05a
Teachers Bell and Students Warning Bell 8:05–8:15a
Late Bell (outside) 8:20a
Bell (to march in Chapel) 8:25–8:30a
Chapel 8:30–9:00a
First Period 9:00–10:00a
Second Period 10:00a-11:00a
Recess 11:00–11:15a
Third Period 11:15–12:15p
Home Room 12:15–12:20p
Rest Period 12:20–12:25p
Lunch and Tea House Recess 12:25–1:00p
Fourth Period 1:00–2:00p
Fifth Period 2:00–3:00p
Sixth Period 3:00–4:00p
Forty-five minute periods for Sub Freshman Class
Tea House Hour and Recreation 4:00–5:15p
Dinner Bell (Warning) 5:40p
Dinner Bell 5:55–6:00p
All students must be at their places
Grace 6:00–6:05p
Dinner 6:05–6:35pm
Leisure (optional — program to be announced) 6:45–7:10p
Study Hour Warning Bell 7:10–7:15p
Study Hour Begins 7:25–7:30p
Study Hour Bell (end) 9:30p
Lights Out 10:00p
Senior extra privileges through Student Council.
