By KEEGAN DEWITT and SAM McCULLOUGH

On Monday, August 25th, new students were introduced to campus during the annual Convocation ceremony, officially ending the five days of orientation. The event took place at the Sanger Center for the Sciences where new students filed into the building. Following their entrance, multiple speeches were given. Among the speakers were the director of the School of Health Sciences, Rachel A. Berstrom, Beloit College President Eric Boyton, and Student Government President Frank S. Hooton’26. Following recognition of international students, the newly initiated crowd took to College St. where they were greeted by a community of fellow students and a large selection of food.

New students moved into housing on August 20, and the days following were filled with various activities to introduce them to the school and its culture. Of these activities, a career fair was held in the Powerhouse where multiple organizations presented their case on why a person should work there. Later in the week, students experienced their first field day and participated in a dance battle of the ages. It wrapped up with the Beloit Farmers’ Market and a tour of CELEB. Orientation was a success, and all it needed was Convocation to see it off.  

The speeches that made up Convocation were impactful. The ceremony was introduced with a recognition of Native land as well as local Native American tribes (the Ho-Chunk, Miami, Meskwati, Peoria, and Potawatomi). Afterwards, faculty gave students a warm welcome and some useful advice. Rachel A. Berstrom talked about the importance of having fun while in college, making new friends and finding time for yourself to be able to relax. (In short, chill out.) Eric Boyton gave an interesting speech, much of which discussed statistics regarding the class of 2029. Frank Hooton’26 shared what it was like to come to Beloit when he was a new student, having come from a small town in Texas. His speech, relatable to fellow students, was a welcome introduction to the student body.

Bailey Singer’29, a freshman who attended this year’s convocation, gave some insight into what it felt like to actually be there. “I thought it was a lot of people that were there to support the freshmen class, which I thought was cool, in a way.” They continued, sharing, “I really liked [the speeches], I felt like they were empowering. Especially Frank’s.”

After the ceremony, upperclassmen lined the sides of College Street to greet the new members of the college and community. The picnic, set up in Chapin Quad, had plenty of food to go around – even having extra pudding to hand out well after the picnic was finished. A moment for community after the first day of classes, students and staff were given an opportunity to mingle and enjoy their food. 

_{Featured image: Keegan DeWitt’29}