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A peek into the weekend of welcome.  image c/o @stmarysca By Lillian La Salle Associate Editor Welcome back Saint Mary’s! Week three has come and gone, for some in a flash and for some slower than the SMC wifi during registration. These three weeks of school may have even started four, or even five weeks ago for our beloved Weekend of Welcome leaders (Wowies) and new first-year and transfer students. If you didn't know, our wonderful Wowies put tireless hours into making posters, planning events, and organizing engaging activities for our new students to get acclimated to campus.
One second-year Wowie, Sara Alhejazin describes why she wanted to participate in this timeless SMC tradition, “I had a fantastic wow experience and wanted to give it to the new first years.” Sara was part of the Carnival Team and described the spirit of working with the other Wowies, “It was so fun because we all wanted to make the day and the events super fun and memorable for the first years.” These students all had a wonderful experience as first-year and transfer students and wanted to give back to their school community, much like many of this year's first-years and transfers will do next fall. The Wowies, as well as a few other on-campus student groups, were among the first faces these new students saw as they trickled onto campus early Thursday morning. Current Saint Mary’s students corralled families with their overstuffed CRVS into formation to unload these new students' lives into their dorm halls, doing so with a smile and some great dance moves. As you can imagine, they definitely got their steps in going up and down the flights in De La Salle with bookcases, bedding, snacks, and other dorm essentials in hand. A few even fulfilled their dream of carrying a minifridge up the Aquinas steps as concerned onlookers followed closely behind. As the new students enjoyed their weekend events such as the Soiree in Ferroggiaro Quad, a mini Carnival on De La Salle, and a day exploring San Francisco via BART, our Campus Activities Board was hard at work planning a fantastic opening week for the returning students. Each year consists of a new set of activities available on the central campus for students to reconnect with friends and meet students interested in getting involved with the exciting student life. This year was kicked off with a classic, Blingo, with students jumping out of their seats with each new card call as they got closer and closer to shouting “Blingo!” One of the returning students even embodied some good old Lasallian compassion when they gave up their winning Blingo call to another student, giving the crowd gathered at De La Salle a front-row seat to a heartwarming moment. Tuesday was headlined by the first-ever craft fair, with a frozen yogurt truck, glitter tattoos, a stuff-a-plush station, SMC official coloring pages of the glorious Gideon, and a tie-dye table. At the craft fair, a current Senior, Ashlyn Drewry describes her experience with the Week of Welcome events kicking off the school year, “As every year went by I kept coming back to the events because they felt so welcoming and it is so open to everyone. I know that I'll always see a lot of people I love and we’ll have a good time no matter what activities are available.” Like Ashlyn, many students get to build community at these events and have a blast with their peers at all the hands-on activities offered. Wednesday night there was the first-ever Pedal Kart race in the rec center parking lot, and it may be safe to say that Mrs. Herzog definitely proved herself to be a real speed racer by the way she was burning rubber on the race track. Thursday brought a relaxing movie night with a plethora of classic movie snacks for students as they watched last summer’s hit film, Top Gun Maverick, and never has Saint Mary’s seen students run faster than to sneak a peek at Miles Teller’s memorable “Beach Scene”. Friday was a cloudy day filled with inflatables, water balloon throwing, and chalk drawing all around De La Salle as students got to unwind and get ready for their long three-day weekend. To conclude the Wonderful Week of WOW, CAB planned a marvelous student social at the local Canyon Club Brewery in Moraga for local students to decompress. All in all, the Campus Activities Board and Wowie leaders kicked off a memorable year for all the SMC students eager to get back into the social swing of things. Welcome home Gaels, and have a great year here at SMC!
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