22 Hopkins things to do before you graduate from ‘22 grads

While this list compiles a few events and activities that (as the title suggests) must be experienced during your time at Hopkins, it is most enjoyable when they are done completely by accident. We encourage you to spontaneously do random things as well and create your own list. If you find yourself wandering through campus and hear commotion and noise from Arellano Theater, approach it. And always say yes to free food — you’ll find yourself staying for the event. 

Having said that, here is a bucket list of 22 things to do as Blue Jays from the Class of ‘22:

1. Making custom buttons at the Digital Media Center. Just using the button press and making pins checks so many boxes for taking a break from work. Satisfying? Check. Head empty? Check. Cute? Check.
2. Looking at the stars at the Bloomberg Observatory. Open every Friday evening, the Maryland Space Grant Observatory on the roof of the Bloomberg Center is always a good way to feel insignificant and small (take any big-headed friends with you). They also have free tote bags.
3. Spray painting the Fresh Food Café Bluejay. Legalized vandalism.
4. Dance and a cappella showcases. Perfect if you ever need to be cheered up. A great reminder that Hopkins students can do it all.
5. Taiwanese American Students Association (TASA) Night Market. While ‘night market’ might be a misnomer since the event takes place in the afternoon, the food is authentic and delicious, the performances are fun and it, at least, is definitely night in Taiwan.
6. George Peabody Library. Now open post-pandemic and offering study spots! Study among the stacks of books and live out your dark or light academia dreams.
7. Water vapor tunnels. These (deliberately unnamed) passageways offer the only sauna at Hopkins for a quick sweat. Unlock fast travel throughout multiple locations on campus.
8. Comedy shows. The Buttered Niblets literally come unprepared and make stuff up at the show. The Stand Up Comedy Club (SUCC) and Throat Culture are hilarious in their own ways. Post-attendance symptoms may include abdominal cramps from laughing too much and randomly remembering a line at the worst possible moment. Where else would you find niche Hopkins-specific jokes?
9. Levering Toastee. Okay, we know Levering has a lot of food options, and all of them are good, but hear us out. This toastee hits different — it’s the only thing on campus we could eat every day without getting tired. You can have your favorite, but the olive or pesto one is objectively the best.
10. Spring Fair. Fried oreos, need we say more?
11. Lacrosse Game. Great way to cheer on your cheerleader friends or the pep band. Does anyone outside of the lacrosse team have friends on the lacrosse team anyway? (This is a joke).
12. Read in the Sculpture Garden near the Undergraduate Teaching Labs. It sounds like something your ideal self should do. A great legal activity for the beautiful sculpture garden!
13. Culture Show. The best Hopkins tradition. What could be better than watching a cappella and dance performances in one free show while trying to catch free shirts midair?
14. The LaB. Spending late nights eating ice cream sundaes while playing video and board games with friends is basically the childhood dream that you can now live out in college.
15. Pulling an all-nighter. A different kind of late night trying to cram for a final or finish a project, and when you’re done, you hear the birds chirping. (As a Study Consultant, Hanna does not condone this behavior. Sleep and proper time management habits are very important.)
16. Flatbreads and crêpes at CharMar. Just like the toastee. Same, but different.
17. Scream at the top of your lungs at the Beach. Every semester, it is tradition to scream at the Beach with your friends right before finals to clear the cobwebs in your brain (and to let out all your frustration).
18. Stealing platters of food from events. There are a lot of catered events for professors only, and as we all know, professors mainly subsist on either their love for teaching or on frantic emails from students asking for extensions. That leaves a lot of untouched platters at events that they let you take home afterwards. That is the law.
19. Designing and creating things at Wyman. Be it a woodworking project, laser cutting or electronics, you can get certified to make anything at the Wyman Park building — an engineer’s dream!
20. The Hopkins Student Organization for Programming (HOP) events. From paint nights to snack Sundays, the HOP manages to hold so many fun activities and giveaways every semester. Be warned though, the HOP’s golden Easter eggs are impossible to find.
21. Intramural sports. Make your own team and battle against similarly bunged together teams in flag football, soccer or any sport... you name it!
22. Step on the seal. Congratulations to the Class of 2022, we deserve it!

Correction: The original article incorrectly implied that SUCC and Throat Culture may be on hiatus. 

The News-Letter regrets this error.