Student turnout for the New Student Convocation exceeded staff expectations on Friday, Aug. 30. A half hour into the annual event, security ran out of entry wristbands and had to hand out wristbands from Manifest as a replacement.
Students stood in long lines for lunch and to get into the park lot space next to the Student Center, where Convocation was held this year for the first time.
In previous years, Convocation has been held at Grant Park near campus. Due to budget cuts across campus, the event was moved to the Student Center and adjacent parking lot on Wabash Avenue.
Convocation followed New Student Connections, a series of events held by schools across campus that allowed students to get to know each other and to meet faculty ahead of the start of the fall semester next Tuesday, Sept. 3.
After Connections ended, students were directed by Engage leaders to the Student Center, where a line formed and stretched for a half-block in front of the building and into the parking lot.
“It’s a good school so far, and I can’t wait to see more of it,” said first-year illustration major Robert Waitekus
Students were greeted by a student DJ on the second floor and a selection of booths from student providers and clubs on three other floors of the Student Center.
Half an hour after the event began, interim President and CEO Jerry Tarrer stepped on the stage in the Wabash lot to give a speech to students, encouraging them about the upcoming school year. This was Tarrer’s first address to students since he took over on July 2 after former president Kwang-Wu Kim stepped down.
“Thank you for sharing your energy with me and with each other,” Tarrer said. “You as creatives are so valued in this world.”
In the crowd, students and staff chanted his name, “Jerry,” “Jerry,” “Jerry!”
“I will not do a stage dive,” Tarrer said before the crowd responded with a collective “boo.” Instead, Tarrer thanked students for attending and spoke about everything that Columbia offers.
“Me, and the staff, and the faculty are going to do everything we can to support you while you’re here at the college and see you over the finish line so that you can leave here and go out into the world and make a difference, make a change.”
On the third floor of the Student Center organizations like TRIO, the Career Center, Student Services Expo, the Academic Center for Tutoring, the Center for Student Wellbeing, Student Diversity and Inclusion hosted booths providing service and information for students.
Kari Sommers, associate dean of Student Life, was one of the administrators responsible for organizing major events like New Student Convocation and Manifest.
Despite the challenges that the college is facing, Sommers said she remained hopeful that this year will be special as there is a renewed sense of growth and commitment. There is “a vibe from this incoming class like I haven’t felt in a long time,” she added.
Sommers said that faculty and staff responsible for Convocation brainstormed about how to make it more impactful but also how to “save a little bit of money” in response to the change in location.
Her favorite part of Convocation is “the feeling of community when students come together.”
Because the majority of Columbia’s academic year takes place during colder months, there are “very few opportunities to feel the presence of the full student body,” she added
Victoria Tupper, a first-year audio arts major, went to Connections after being encouraged by the student workers at Dwight to explore the event with her roommates. She wanted to find out about sports teams on campus.
Tupper said she chose to come to Columbia because she knew the school was well versed in music production arts. Tupper hoped to make as many connections as possible like networking through her school.
“I want to focus on music production and clear all my doubts because I have a lot of them. I think I have support here and the teachers Columbia has are amazing,” said Tupper.
Student organizations were spread throughout the five floors of the Student Center at tables offering Columbia flags, candy, energy drinks, tote bags and various types of merchandise specific to their club. Frannie’s Cafe catered a lunch of hamburgers and hot dogs on the 1st and 5th floors.
Samuel Martinez, vice president of Mi Gente Latin Dance Club, said their table at Convocation helped spread the word that they’re open to students of all dance experiences and prioritize creating community.
“I feel it’s really important to make ourselves known and make ourselves out there and to let them know that we have our own team,” said Martinez, a sophomore theatre design and technology major. “A lot of people that join actually have no experience, and they gain confidence in themselves. It’s super fun seeing everyone grow and being closer as a team.”
Stella Zombolo, a first-year music business major, said it didn’t bother her that this year’s Convocation was smaller in scale and held indoors.
“I’m not a big party person, so I wouldn’t really care where it was,” she said. “I already thought this was pretty big, so I don’t know what it would be like if it was in Grant Park.”
Ash Hatch, a sophomore American Sign Language major, liked that the event was in the middle of Columbia’s campus and not in the adjacent park.
“Last year I was like ‘Grant Park is huge, I don’t know where to go,’” Hatch said. “Here is the Student Center, and everyone knows where the Student Center is.”
Hatch attended with their friend Wick Laipple, a sophomore musical theater major, who also went to Convocation last year. Laipple said that being inside this year was better to avoid the heat and “be more easy to follow” for new students.
But sophomore animation major Mae Mendoza wasn’t impressed.
“I thought Convocation was the best it could be for it being held in the Student Center,” Mendoza said. “However, knowing how it was last year, and it being outside in Grant Park, this seemed a little underwhelming.”
Naluwa Adeyooye, a first-year art management major, attended Convocation with his friends in hopes of exploring different student organizations. However, he said he didn’t find the signage very helpful in navigating where different tables were supposed to be.
“Now that I know where everything is, it’s very fun, very happy,” Adeyooye said. “We just didn’t know everything was happening on the upper floors of this building.”
Incoming freshman and musical theater major Linzey Lucas sat inside the lobby of the Student Center waiting for lunch to be served. Lucas said she felt that Convocation had “too much going on.”
“I’m wondering where the clubs are,” Lucas said. “I expected rows and rows of people encouraging me to join their groups. There are a lot of other things going on though. I am just taking a break from it all.”
Other students were happy with how the afternoon went. They said it made them realize they made the right decision in coming to Columbia.
Amidst a crowd of fresh faces, first-year Abrianna Fulton, a musical theatre major, said she chose Columbia over a conservatory for its wide range of cross-disciplinary opportunities and diverse casting. “They try to make sure everybody is seen and heard, and I really enjoy that,” she said.
Ridley Timmons, a transfer animation major, attended Convocation today after choosing Columbia because of the “clear path” they set for students.
“I felt like they had more of a set direction, and I understood, I figured out exactly what I want to do,” Timmons said. “This school, they were very catered towards giving me a direction and path to actually go to instead of just kind of wandering around, not really knowing,” Timmons said.
Additional reporting by Maya Liquigan, Kate Julianne Larroder, Samantha Ho, Manuel Nocera, Vanessa Orozco, Amelia Rodriguez, Morgan Kromer, Sofia Oyarzun, Lilly Sundsbak, Emma Jolly, Dustin Janicki, Uriel Reyes, Charles Rahn and Gavin Lipinski
Copy edited by Vanessa Orozco
This story has been updated.
