Just minutes before the students of the Class of 2022 entered Canavan Arena for their New Student Convocation last Wednesday, members of the Stevens community witnessed and participated in a nascent tradition at Stevens: the Wittpenn Walk.
The Wittpenn Walk, which is conveniently named after the road it occurs on, is among several efforts by both Stevens administrators and student leaders to contrive tradition on campus.
Campus traditions at Stevens, which date back to Cage Ball and the Cremation of Calculus, had been absent for decades for some administrators. In particular, Sara Klein, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs, thought “some of our existing campus traditions could use some updates and improvements.”
“I also felt like we needed a few more traditions that students could look forward to every year, and I also wanted them to be spread out more throughout the year,” Klein said.
To resolve this problem, Klein formed a committee early in October 2017 and tasked them with creating new campus traditions that she hopes will endure for decades.
The committee — composed of student government officials, Honor Board members, and some staff members, including Klein — prepared and organized several traditions for the Stevens community, like the Duck Dance, Quack Pack (a school spirit organization), and Golf Cart Karaoke.
But perhaps the most successful of the traditions suggested by the committee is the Wittpenn Walk.
Klein announced the plans for this tradition back in May and that the Class of 2018 would be the inaugural group for the walk.
“[The senior class will] proceed down Wittpenn Walk [from Howe] and out through the Gatehouse to Babbio for a celebration with staff and faculty,” Klein said in an email sent out to the Stevens community in May. “Beginning this August, our first-year students will process up through the Gatehouse on Wittpenn Walk into New Student Convocation. The Wittpenn Walk tradition will symbolize the start and finish of a student’s academic career at Stevens.”
For its first reveal with the Class of 2018, the Wittpenn Walk had more than 100 attendees, most of whom were student leaders who helped organize the event.
“Many seniors had cried walking down Wittpenn Walk,” said Lucas Gallo, President of the SGA and a member of the campus traditions committee formed by Klein.
That warm day in May signified an emotional end to a four-to-five year-long academic career.
However, no tears were seen in the incoming class that participated in the second iteration of the Wittpenn Walk last Wednesday, the third day of classes for most of the students.
As the first-year students made their way up Wittpenn Walk for the start of their academic life, upperclassmen, staff, and even a few alumni lined up alongside the road, cheering and ringing their Stevens-provided cowbells.
“We definitely plan to continue this tradition for all new classes of first-year students as well as for all graduating classes,” Klein said.
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