#rally day

[brianfrench1995]

1918 Rally Day - Women's Suffrage Postcard

@postcardtimemachine

[addierose444]

Rally Day 2023

Last Thursday was Rally Day! As mentioned in my most recent blog post about the celebration of engineering seniors, Rally Day was my first opportunity to wear my graduation gown. Rather than pairing the ropes with our graduation caps, a fun Rally Day tradition is to wear a fun hat. There’s also technically a hat competition and some people really go all out with this. One cool part about this competition is that it is judged by alums (who at least for the most part are also Smith faculty members). The categories are Biggest Hat, Most Creative, Best Accessory, Best use of Smith Tradition, and Most Sustainable. As I didn’t have any fun or creative ideas, I opted to just wear my new hard hat. Most of the engineers I saw were also wearing their hard hats, but some did add some fun decorations.

Afternoon classes are canceled on Rally Day to make time for the ceremony. While I technically have Thursday morning, afternoon, and evening classes, I was fortunate enough to have them all canceled. I thus took the opportunity to sleep in and grab brunch with a friend. We next went to the Campus Center to see everyone’s hats. 

The main reason to attend the Rally Day ceremony is that it’s where the commencement speaker is announced. However, this big announcement is left for last. During the ceremony, the Glee Club performed twice and a number of awards were distributed including the Smith College medals (for alumnae), faculty teaching awards, and the Elizabeth B. Wyandt Gavel Awards (for Smith staff members “who have given extraordinarily of themselves to the Smith College community as a whole.” Upon receiving their awards, the recipients gave mini speeches.  

The next part of the ceremony was announcing the 2023 honorary degree recipients (Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Gabby Giffords, Susan Goldin-Meadow, Camara Phyllis Jones, and Kelly Link). Finally, after an hour and a half our commencement speaker, Reshma Saujani, was finally announced. While I’d never heard of her by name, I had heard of Girls Who Code which is an international non-profit organization focused on closing the gender tech gap that she founded back in 2012. While I haven’t personally been impacted by this organization, I did donate my Microsoft giving dollars to them two summers ago. As an intern, our giving portals are pre-loaded with $50 that we can donate to various non-profits. If you’re interested, you can read more about these amazing Microsoft intern benefits. 

After the ceremony I went to Amherst to grab dinner with some friends at Agrigato Sushi I ordered pork gyoza and miso ramen which were really tasty. I will note however that the restaurant was pretty pricy.

[libraryofva]

Recent Acquisition - Postcard Collection

Rally Day In Our School, Sunday, October 19 at 11 a.m. We want every pupil present. Let us have a rousing beginning of our winter work.  Postmarked October 1913

[agnesatsmith]

RALLY DAY 2019!!! This was the first Rally Day I have gone to--while it’s open to all years, it’s definitely an event focusing on seniors! The fun part of Rally Day is that seniors wear hats, which range from cute to hilarious. I wore the “Beaver Fever” hat passed down from Wilson HP to Wilson HP, referencing our dear mascot, Cletus the beaver! I’ve become friends with so many other seniors, just this past year--one of whom is Kennedy, also a blogger! You can see her post on Rally Day here. 

The part I was most excited for was the announcement of the commencement speaker-- Ai-jen Poo!! She is an incredible Asian American woman who has done fantastic things with the domestic workers’ movement, which I learned about in my history seminar on domestic work. I am SO excited to hear an Asian American woman speak at commencement, and one that I have already learned about!!!!

[c86]

It’s RALLY DAY next Sunday

[ewrthings-race-repair-repeat]

Subaru Legacy rally car

[lifeofasmithie]

Yesterday was the Rally Day Carnival, the celebration that happens the day before Rally Day and that is open to everyone on campus. This year, we were treated to a mashed potato bar, air tattoos, a bouncy castle, a bouncy version of hungry hungry hippos, crafts, and churros.

[anthroinparadise-blog]

Happy belated Rally Day!!!!

This is a picture of me and some of my best friends at Smith (we all met first year!!) celebrating Rally Day. Rally Day is one of Smith’s longest traditions as it first started in 1876. It’s so cool to be able to participate in traditions like these. 

It’s a campus-wide celebration where seniors dress up in funky hats (and all engineers receive white hard hats like my friend Flora is wearing!) and we find out who our commencement speaker is. Before we can find out who our commencement speaker is, we celebrate the accomplishments of five distinguished alumnae. 

Did I mentioned that our commencement speaker is OPRAH!!!

Check out the program and list of alumnae from the 2017 Rally Day!