Since 1931, bell ringing has been an important activity to the Kent community. The powerful sound from the bell tower of the St. Joseph’s Chapel echoes through the campus, weaving into every Kent student’s daily life.

The sound may have become a daily routine, but the experiences of the group of ringers are far from ordinary. Besides ringing the bells before chapels and formal dinner, they travel about once a month to other towers, such as the Mendenhall Bell Tower in Smith College.

On vacations, they also travel around the world. Their magnificent performances had won them a number of recognitions, particularly on June 2, 2017, when the entire group rang their first Quarter Peal, a very rare event that aroused interests from historians of the field.

Mr. Matthew C. Austin, the current faculty head of the group, started his experience with bell ringing ten years ago. In fact, Mr. Austin acknowledged that his first motivation was to stop the “noise” from disturbing his afternoon nap. However, as things turned out, he struck a bell for the first time, and that changed everything. About a year ago, Mr. Austin started to teach students the techniques of ringing a bell.

Mr. Austin expressed real joy and enthusiasm about his experience in bell ringing. He explained that this activity is a rare opportunity, given that there are only about 50 bell towers in all of North America. Among high schools, only Kent and Groton have bell towers.

Also, according to Mr. Austin, “Bell ringing provides an infinite ladder of leveling up in skills.” There are a lot of challenges, particularly the gap between the pulling of the bells and hearing the result. “It’s like throwing tennis balls to a drum on the stage from the audience’s seats,” he added. “By the time the sound reached the ringers’ ears, they are already ringing the next note.” The bell ringers also have to use a lot of nonverbal communication to express their ideas. Another interesting fact is that the bells at Kent are all truly gigantic, with the heaviest one weighing over 2,000 pounds. Despite these difficulties, our bell ringers really work wonders when they face the challenges of this activity.