On April 1, the Senior Committee partnered with the Whitman Events Board (WEB) to celebrate the upcoming class of 2023 graduation. The festivities celebrating “50 days till graduation” took place at Big House Brew Pub from 8:30 to 11 p.m.

Senior Committee Events Chair Riley Glendinning helped organize the most recent celebration event, along with the senior class events thrown throughout this past academic year.

“There are four events we host throughout the year marking different milestones to graduation. This was ’50 days till graduation,’ and we were lucky enough to get a bunch of funding from WEB. This allowed us to open it up to the whole campus and have more food and drink options than before,” Glendinning said. “We also hosted a Kahoot game that everyone loved,. This was the first time we had live music, as well, from a student band the Wind-Up Birds, which was such a phenomenal performance.”

Glendinning elaborated on the process behind planning the event.

“It was a bit stressful day, and even during the week leading up, as events always are. Trying to figure out how much food would suffice people along with the sizing of the space and amount of people is always hard to predict,” Glendinning said. “The thing about events is you have to be adaptable to any and every situation that comes your way, and you have to be able to act on your feet.”

Seniors recounted the night as a joyful time of nostalgia and celebration. Senior Marc Anthony Hidalgo shared that they enjoyed their experience at the party.

“It was a time for all the seniors to get together and have one final hurrah before my thesis was due. The event was overall great. I enjoyed getting together with my friends, drinking, playing games and listening to the Wind-Up Birds,” Hidalgo said. “It was nice to see all of the seniors together, with some familiar faces and some new.”

Senior Caitlin Barnes reported also having a great night at Big House Brew Pub. 

“I attended the event with some of my housemates who are also seniors. We were excited to go check out the event and had tons of fun,” Barnes said. “I ran into friends I made during freshman year, and I was able to catch up with them. It was super fun to reconnect, and the context of the event made it all the more surreal that we are really about to graduate.”

The celebration reminded Senior Sofia Solares how quickly graduation is approaching. 

“When the event was announced, it was definitely a shock realizing we were 50 days from graduation. I’m currently having a lot of mixed feelings about the fact [that] I’m almost done with college,” Solares said. “[I’m] mostly really excited, but, of course, there’s the looming fear about a post-grad life and the fact that my life is just beginning.”

Join Whitman’s class of 2023 on May 21 to commemorate their graduation and time at Whitman.