Hopkins held Convocation to officially welcome its new freshman and transfer students into the Hopkins community this past Monday.
A procession of students twisted around the Freshman Quad and stretched from the FFC all the way down to Remsen Hall as the students waited to be ushered into the three-story Ralph S. O' Conner recreational building where Convocation was held.
The Sirens and the All-Nighters, Hopkins a capella groups, started Convocation with a performance of the National Anthem.
The Archipelago Project, a not-for-profit musical group consisting of members from around the globe, and faculty, students and alumni of the Peabody Institute provided additional music for the ceremony and reception.
As faculty and students took their seats underneath the second story track, draped in black, white and blue curtains, junior John J. Braddock, Orientation Executive Chair and Master of Ceremonies, took to the podium.
"Try things you would not normally do and some things that you normally enjoy doing," Braddock said. "Sign up for clubs, meet new people, and have fun.
"Hopkins will prepare you for a professional career, but the experiences you have at this university will shape the person you will eventually become."
Proceeding Braddock and Walter D. Pinkard Jr., the Vice Chair of the Board of Trustee, Ronald J. Daniels, President of the University, gave his welcome speech to the new Hopkins students.
"Not every opportunity you will have here will be as obvious or as admittedly bizarre as an Oompa-Reggae band jamming in lederhosen and dreadlocks in a Paris subway car," Daniels said, recounting a curious incident during a trip to Paris.
"But each of these moments have the potential to open up explosive new possibilities for you. Embrace them. Explore them."
He encouraged the new freshman class to take advantage of the great diversity and variety of people at Hopkins, and in doing so, create something truly exciting and creative.
Convocation followed with the presentation of the Class of 2015 Banner Winner, Oscar E. Reyes, and Essay Contest Winner, Vamsi Chunduru.
Runner ups for the essay contest were Misa Bound, Jinny Rogers and Janice Vansi.
The Class of 2015 Banner will be displayed at the MSE Library.
Convocation continued with messages to the freshman class from Katherine S. Newman, the James B. Knapp Dean for The Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, and Nicholas P. Jones, Benjamin T. Rome Dean of the G.W.C. Whiting School of Engineering.
"What we want to know is this: What challenge will you rise to with a paradigm busting concept? What accepted business model or practice will you overturn? What will you build in your garage? What street will you remove? We can't wait to find out. Welcome to [Hopkins]," Jones said.
Convocation concluded with a dessert reception, featuring a variety of items from bite sized cheesecake to rectangular shaped cookies with the Class of 2015 banner design.
A crowd of students and faculty discussed the proceedings of the past evening as they mingled together around the many dessert tables.
Ed Bouwer, Professor of Geography and Environmental Engineering, noted how despite the number of convocations over the years, the speeches still manage to differ and stay interesting.
"Sometimes you'd think they reuse the same topics; sometimes you'd think they could just give the same speeches but it's all very different," he said.
Freshman Rachel Kalina felt the speeches this year expressed how deeply the University cares about its students.
"I really liked [Convocation] because you could tell how much the president cared about the students and was interested in them," she said.
"I liked how he thought we would do great things, and there are a lot of teachers out there who don't believe in their students. But he really did."
