Students may be feeling a slight slump at the moment, but that just means the best time of the year is right around the corner.
With summer comes graduation, and with graduation comes Senior Week. The seniors are a few weeks from freedom, and the clock is counting down.
In the days before graduation, seniors will get one last hurrah as they celebrate their final days of being Gusties.
Senior Week goes from May 28 to the end of the month, May 31. Registration for the events was active through this past week and ends today, May 17.
Excitement is certainly building.
“Senior Week is meant to be a time set aside for seniors to participate in a variety of activities with their peers before graduation. It will be nice to have time outside of classes to spend with my closest friends before we all graduate. I’m especially looking forward to the night at Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America, where the Class of 2019 will have the amusement park exclusively to ourselves for three hours on May 29,” Senior and commencement speaker Meghan Gallagher said.
This trip to the Mall of America is only one of the many festivities seniors have to look forward to.
Buses leave Gustavus at 9:15 pm and will return shortly after 1:00 am. This event costs $15.
Starting on Tuesday, May 28 there will be free pizza given out to students in the Southwest and Collegeview residence halls.
The day will then be followed up with a concert by the Johnny Holm Band. This band sings covers of famous rock songs. The concert begins after sundown at 9 p.m., and tickets cost $10.
Thursday, May 30, will be another busy day for seniors as the fun keeps rolling. The President’s Banquet will be held in the Evelyn Young Dining Room at 6 p.m. Specially-made food will be served. The banquet costs $15 to attend.
Following the banquet is the Final Dive. This will be a chance for seniors to dance in The Dive one last time. The dance will start at 11 p.m. and is free for students.
Friday, May 31, will include a rehearsal for the big day. Seniors are required to attend graduation rehearsal in the Lund Arena, which starts at 10 a.m. Seniors will then have a large part of the day to relax and reflect on their time on campus before a service in Christ Chapel.
A Celebration of Light will be held starting at 9:30 p.m. This will wrap up the celebrations before graduation.
“The weekend of June 1, 2019, will be a very special time. It marks the beginning of a new and exciting stage in the lives of our 2019 graduates,” the Commencement webpage said.
On June 1, seniors will be graduating from Gustavus. The ceremony will last about two hours and is set to take place outside at Hollingsworth Field.
Should the weather take a turn for the worst, the event will be moved inside to the Lund Arena. Tickets are not needed for the outdoor ceremony but in the case of inclement weather, tickets are required.
The ceremony will begin with the procession at 1:45 p.m. A highlight of the ceremony will be the student commencement speech.
“I am incredibly honored to have been chosen as the student commencement speaker to represent the Class of 2019. I have been preparing by finishing my speech and practicing it over and over again. Commencement will be such a special day filled with so many emotions: excitement, some nerves, sadness as my GAC Career comes to an end, and hopefully feelings of closure and respect for the campus community I have grown to love so much. As classes wrap up and finals approach, I hope my peers try to take some time to soak in our last couple weeks. It’ll be over before we know it,” Gallagher said.
The commencement speech will be one of the last things the graduated hear before they toss their caps in the air.
Senior Week will be a week filled with the creation of new memories, as well as the revisiting of old ones. The last few days before graduation weekend will have plenty of opportunities for seniors to have fun.
Graduation will be the highlight of the week as seniors reach the end of their Gustavus careers and turn the page to the next chapter in their lives.