In case you haven’t heard, Hollins University loves its traditions! And before you think, “Oh, no! How old school, how boring,” let me stop you right there! Our traditions are awesome, partly because they keep us connected to our past and the women who have graduated before us…. and also because they are just plain wacky and funny :)
Founder’s Day
Thursday of this past week was Founder’s Day, which is a big tradition for seniors. It celebrates the birthday of our founder, Charles Lewis Cocke. All the seniors wear our robes, most of which are decorated like crazy, and walk up to the old HU cemetery (where C.L.C. is buried) and place a wreath on his gravestone. This year’s walk to the cemetery was especially entertaining because all the winter snow had just melted and the path was pure mud! Regardless of how gross our shoes were, it was nice to have all the seniors together doing something that we know generations of women have done before us. During senior year, we all get pretty busy. While we walked, I got to catch up with some friends who I haven’t talked to recently.
100th Night
Earlier this month (February), the senior class had another big tradition, called 100th Night, which is a celebration that takes place exactly 100 nights before graduation. Our senior class secretary created a slideshow of dozens and dozens of photos from the past three and a half years we have spent at Hollins, and everyone brought snack foods to share. We also brought our decorated bottles of cider/champagne from our junior Ring Night baskets. (I’ll explain more about that in a minute…) It was a fun time, hanging out with the seniors and being reminded of all the fun times from the last few years. There were definitely photos in that slideshow that we’d all forgotten ever existed 
Ring Night
Ring Night would definitely have to be my favorite tradition… And because of that, I’m pretty sure my description of it is going to be uber-long, and include a ton of photos and hopefully video. So it’s going to be a separate blog entry: Ring Night 2009
Tinker Day
Tinker Day and Ring Night are probably our two wackiest traditions, and thus two of the best! On Tinker Day, everyone is woken early in the morning by seniors running up and down the dormitory halls banging pots and pans. Then, President Gray officially cancels classes for the day and the dining hall serves hundreds of Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast! And the best part has even begun yet…
After breakfast, every runs back to their dorms to find the wildest, most ridiculous costumes to wear. (The Goodwill store down the street is invaluable in the weeks leading up to Tinker Day!) Once everyone is “appropriately dressed,” we all meet on Front Quad and then head off towards Tinker Mountain, the mountain behind faculty row. I can’t imagine what the people who live near Hollins must think, seeing us in our random colors and layers, trekking to the base of Tinker Mountain and then hiking to the top!
Once we reach the top of the mountain, we eat a picnic lunch of fried chicken and chocolate cake, and each class performs a skit. The new professors also perform a skit… this year, three new male professors re-enacted Beyonce’s “Single Ladies.” Then we hike back down to campus, arrive to our dorms mid-afternoon, and take a nap! lol
Hollinsblogger Kylie also wrote about Tinker Day, and you can read her perspective here: Kylie’s Blog
First Step
The very first tradition of every year is First Step. Hollins has a big beautiful front lawn known as “Front Quad.” Per tradition, only seniors (and those invited by seniors) are allowed to step on the grass of Front Quad. Until senior year, students have to use the sidewalks that cut across the Quad. So, on First Step day, the entire senior class (with our First Step bottles from Ring Night in-hand) take one unified step onto the grass. And then we go insane, running on the grass, dancing on the grass, soaking each other with sparkling cider… It’s sticky and crazy to participate in, and quite hilarious to observe!
Well, I went about it in completely the reverse order, but I think I hit most of the big traditions on campus. Of course, there are many many smaller traditions, but you’ll have to come to Hollins to find out about those!
[For a little bit more info on our wide range of traditions, check out the Hollins University homepage.]
