Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Community Celebrates Second Georgetown Day

Charles Nailen/The Hoya Students joust during Georgetown Day activities.

Georgetown Day organizers billed Tuesday’s events as a showdown between “Hoya Blue” and “Saxa Gray.” But between the bright blue sky, the cyan water in Dahlgren fountain and the blue-stained tongues from cotton candy and snow cones, natural and artificial shades of blue dominated the university’s second annual spirit day.

Organizers say Georgetown Day is quickly becoming a tradition and that the day’s activities – carnival amusements, live entertainment by Georgetown community members and games sponsored by various campus groups – can help build unity within the campus and the greater Georgetown community.

“This is an end-of-the-year celebration of how great our community is, how strong our community is and how diverse our community is,” Randy Rivera (COL ’02), one of the Georgetown Day coordinators said. “This is a celebration of the things that make Georgetown special.”

Rivera said as many as 10,000 people including students, faculty, staff and community members passed through Georgetown Day’s events.

The day also served as a send-off to University President Leo J. O’Donovan, S.J., who is set to step down as president on July 1,2001.

The focal point of the day’s events was Copley Lawn, where the asphalt walkway in front of the dorm and the brick walkway across the grass looked more like midways than walkways.

Students and faculty members wrestled, jousted and jumped in inflatable rings while performers sang and danced on the White-Gravenor patio.

“It is a great event. It is nice to see everybody outside,” Alexis Katsareas (SFS, ’03) said, out of breath after a bout of sumo wrestling, a competition in which combatants climb into padded suits and wrestle like bowling balls with legs.

From their windows, Copley residents hung makeshift “Copley Forever” banners, mimicking the “Georgetown Forever” banners that hung from Healy.

On the walkway below, officials from the university’s Office of Communications spun cotton candy. As they closed shop for the day, Associate Director for Public Affairs Bill Cessato and Vickie Jones from the Office of Alumni and University Relations said that they had gone through 10 three-quarter pound cartons of candy sugar by 3 p.m.

The line for lunch snaked around Red Square and onto the Copley walkway for most of the afternoon, as community members waited for the hamburgers, hot dogs and veggie burgers.

Chefs Jerome Butler, Sr., Carlings McPhail, Sr. and Bennie Bender said they grilled about 5,000 hamburgers, 10,000 hot dogs and 2,000 to 3,000 veggie burgers over the course of the day.

The inaugural event last year followed a series of incidents – the death of junior David Shick, the vandalism of the Jewish Student Association’s Menorah and several instances of racist and anti-gay graffiti – and those events gave last year’s Georgetown Day added meaning, according to Vice President for Student Affairs Juan C. Gonzalez.

But this year, the emphasis was not on healing, but on celebrating.

“This is a strong demonstration that we can come together and celebrate our uniqueness and diversity. Georgetown is a community and we are one university that believes in celebrating our positive aspects,” Gonzalez said.

This year’s planners faced several logistical problems, according to Rivera, one of the four coordinators for Georgetown Day. He said that he and the other coordinators, Jamal Epps (COL ’01), Ben Martin (COL ’01) and Catie Sheehan (COL ’01), were forced to plan their events around the tents covering Healy Lawn and Healy Circle and that they needed to move some events, including the dunk tank, human foosball and the second stage to Harbin Patio.

Provost Dorothy Brown, whose office will pay the $12,000 bill for the Georgetown Day events, said that planners benefited from more time to prepare than last year and also could note the successes and failures of last year’s program.

“Things were much more relaxed this year. We started planning earlier. The planning seemed easier and gave us a chance to take more time to discover talents,” Brown said.

A cappella groups, dance groups, musicians and theater groups performed on the two stages throughout the day and into the evening.

At a time when university-neighbor relations are at their most strained – late last month the BZA denied the university’s request to increase enrollment – Georgetown Day was praised for its ability to bring the greater Georgetown community together.

“It is one of the few things on campus that brings everyone together. People from the community come in and everyone sits on the lawn and plays the games together,” GUSA President Ryan DuBose (COL ’02) said.

Jose Padilla teaches upper school Spanish at Holy Trinity and he said he brought his Spanish classes to Georgetown Day and encouraged them to try to carry on conversations in Spanish.

“I love the international community,” he said. “Our school has good relations with Georgetown.”

While Ballet Folklorico performed on the White-Gravenor patio, a group of eighth graders from Holy Trinity watched two sumo wrestlers battle in their inflatable ring.

They sat on the edge of the ring and cheered as the wrestlers slammed into each other and giggled as the wrestlers laid on the cushioned floor, unable to get to their feet.

Volunteer Coordinator Keavney Klein (NUR ’02) said almost 100 students volunteered to help throughout the day, not including the groups that sponsored their own events.

The College Academic Council sponsored Wheel of Fortune and Habitat for Humanity sponsored a doughnut-eating contest.

At the dunk tank, where officials from the college deans office took a number of turns getting dunked, profits benefited Hoya Humanitarians.

Brown and Rivera both said the ice cream social for graduate and medical students was an important community-building event and that future planners should work to incorporate more programs for these students.

“We need to get more white coats down here,” Brown said.

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