By Amnah Said
and the IV Leader staff, Sept. 3, 2009
If college life means discovering a new culture and having fun, IVCC students got a taste of it Sept. 25 at the College Convocation and Spirit Day.
“This is my second year at IVCC and I think spirit day is exciting,” said Cody Joseph Buczkowski, an 18-year-old student. “It broadens all the horizons of the current and future students of Illinois Valley Community College.”
The events for the day took part in three stages. First, students learned about the college’s mission and core values during faculty-led sessions in their 11 a.m. classes. Then, freshmen students went to the Cultural Center for the formal ceremony.
Students heard from IVCC president Jerry Corcoran in a welcome to campus as well as from Rick Pearce, vice president of learning and student development, about the meaning of the caps and gowns worn by faculty and administrators.
Erika Ugland of Ottawa agreed with her friends that the Convocation was worth getting out of normal class time, but said she felt it should be optional for freshmen to attend.
Like Ugland, many students said their favorite part of the day was the free pizza and activities on the College Green.
In fact, for the first time ever, students finished all of the 1,200 slices of pizza ordered for the day.
“Over the past 10 years or so, we have ordered the same amount of pizza. This year was the first year ever that we ran out of pizza,” said Cory Tomasson, director of Student Activities.
“I think that this could be attributed to a few things. First, enrollment is really up, so there are simply more students on campus. Second, the format was different than year’s past. Since it was tied with Student Convocation, the amount of students and when they attended the event changed.”
While some students wanted more pizza, most were pleased with the activities available and the Euro Bungee, a new activity, drew rave reviews.
“I love that rubber band thing, said Mohamad Aburomi. “I made a triple flips which no one did before.”
Aburomi was combining fun on Spirit Day with his club involvement. “I think it’s really cool; we have a lot of things set up. The club that I am in is the Chemistry Club, and we are making ice-cream using liquid nitrogen.”
The organizers felt the event went well.
“ I absolutely love this day,” Tomasson said. “It is great to see the students enjoy themselves, meet new people, mingle with faculty and staff outside of the classroom environment, and view the whole college experience.”
Student Trustee Cheyanne Smith agreed: “I think it turned out really good. There are tons of students here and everybody seems like their having a good time
“It’s helpful and I think students are excited to be on campus and teachers are excited to be involved.”