HWS News
29 November 2023 Senior Celebration on Friday!
Members of the Class of 2024 will have the opportunity to forge new memories and take part in traditions they missed during their initial year due to the pandemic.
Hosted by the Senior Student Trustees and the Office of Campus Life, the Senior Soiree will take place on Friday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. in Bartlett Theatre. Acknowledging that the Class of 2024 commenced their college journey amid COVID-19 restrictions, this event is designed as a senior celebration that reintegrates some of the HWS traditions canceled in their first year due to social distancing measures.
The festivities will feature traditions typically observed during Orientation, including the symbolic act of signing the matriculation book to officially register each new student and the class Illumination photo capturing their class year while illuminating the scene with cell phone lights. The student band Moonflower will provide live music; and President Mark D. Gearan will lead a champagne toast.
“For the Class of 2024, it is hard not to define our early college experience through COVID,” shares Student Trustees Samari Brown ’24 and Jesse Whelan-Small ’24. “We missed out on a lot that first year, but it’s been pretty incredible to see how we have all preserved and accomplished so much over the past couple years.”
Originally, the Trustees planned on having the event be a “Re-Orientation” during the beginning of the semester. However, they also wanted to make sure the future was celebrated and began planning the event with assistance from Assistant Vice President for Campus Life Kristen Tapscott.
“This event is so much more than just allowing the senior class to take back some of what was lost during our year,” says Brown and Whelan-Small. “It allows us to celebrate all that we have done and all that we are going to do when we walk across the stage in the spring.”
