New seniors march to the homestretch

Clad in red shirts, donning styrofoam top hats and brandishing canes, and amidst boisterous chants of "hey! hey!" the junior class took part in one of Penn's longest standing traditions on Friday.

Next year's seniors made their way up Locust Walk and onto the Quad's junior balcony, then headed back out to College Green where University President Judith Rodin officially pronounced them seniors as part of Friday's Hey Day festivities.

Though the juniors officially became seniors at 3:45 p.m., the Hey Day revelry began much earlier -- officially at a noon picnic on Hill Field, and unofficially even earlier, with the tossing back of a few shots or beers for breakfast.

"We did a power hour at noon," College junior Rachel King said. "But we started drinking around 10:30 or 11:00" a.m.

Like many new seniors, King said that she and her friends planned to continue the partying well into the evening. But she said the day was also a little emotional.

"I plan on drinking and crying because I don't want to graduate," King said.

Wharton junior Molly Bennard also said the day was bittersweet.

"It feels like it has been a longtime -- a long haul," Bennard said. "But it is sad because the school year will be over soon and we will be out in the real world."

Like King, Bennard said that she planned on "going out and getting trashed."

But while alcohol certainly abounded, not all Penn students were drunk. College junior Michael Krathen, who cited Saturday's Medical College Admission Tests as the reason for his sobriety, said that he was planning on spending the day sober and looking toward the future.

"I hope to graduate on time and get accepted into medical school," Krathen said.

Even in his lucid state, Krathen said that becoming a senior is a surreal experience.

"I don't believe that I am a senior," he said.

College junior Sarah Walsh said that her senior status finally sunk in as she approached Hill Field.

"I was not excited this morning, but when I started seeing everyone in their Hey Day shirts it became real -- everyone is becoming a senior today," Walsh said. "Walking down and seeing a sea of red and everybody with their hats and canes is truly amazing."

In fact, there are only a few occasions on which students can enjoy the company of their entire class -- Convocation during their freshman year, Hey Day and graduation.

"It is great to be able to see how large your class really is and realize that in three short years, those familiar faces have become the seniors of this university," College and Engineering junior Dmitry Koltunov said.

Wharton junior Matt Frohling even said that he was using the opportunity to catch to up with old friends.

"It is a good time to meet everyone you knew from past years and lost touch with," Frohling said. "My first night as a senior I have plans to hang out with my freshman year hall -- fourth floor McHilleny" in the Quad.

In addition to reuniting with old friends on Hill Field, students spent the picnic dancing, beating each other with canes and taking bites out of hats.

The hats, Koltunov said, tasted like much more than mere styrofoam.

"The hats taste like the nostalgic truth that our years at college are over and the real world is a-knockin' at our door," Koltunov said. "As a senior, I feel that I should live life to the fullest before I have to account for every single hour of my existence."

As the picnic subsided, the students began their march through campus to College Green for Rodin's speech.

Nursing junior Kendra Varland said she was eager to hear what wisdom Rodin would bestow on the Class of 2003.

"I do not really know what Rodin is going to say, but I think we will all be really excited because senior year is coming up," Varland said. "No matter what she says, we are all going to celebrate."

But whatever Rodin said, she had to officially pronounce the rowdy junior crowd as seniors. "You are not a senior until Judy tells you that you are at 3:45," Engineering junior Josh Gilper said. "At 3:45, I am going to feel like a senior with a lot of work due in a week."

After Rodin made it official to a cheering crowd, Senior Class President Billy Moore took the stage. He called upon Rodin to honor his class and take a bite out of his hat, and then offered his ruminations on the past three years.

"We are still the best class to ever come through this university -- ever!" Moore said. "I urge you to take advantage of every experience you have remaining here."

Moore also threw in an obligatory, "Princeton still sucks!" before the Penn Band took over and played "The Red and the Blue."

All in all, most students said they felt that Hey Day was a success.

"In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 'Hey Day rocks!'" College junior Leigh Wasserstrom said.

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