Feb. 15, 2007

Plans for Senior Week in the works
Jessie Schmac
schmacj@marietta.edu

Senior week may not be set in stone, but Student Senate is well on their way to having the week of events all set up for the graduating seniors of ’07. Beginning Monday May 14 and ending Friday, May 18, seniors will have a myriad of events to participate in before graduation.
“We try to have it for seniors so they can have one last week together,” says student senate president Lauren Thompson. Senate’s vice president Brian Ashton is in charge of planning senior week.

The graduating class consists of 258 students. “We are hoping to have at least 200 of the seniors there,” says Ashton “the more people the more fun we can all have.”

The events of Senior Week were decided from a questionnaire that was sent out to seniors before the end of last semester. “We had about one-third of the seniors respond to the survey,” says Ashton “and the majority picked events that we have done in years passed.”
Senior week will begin with a bus trip to Cedar Point. This trip will only allow a limited number of students and will cost extra for the tickets into the park itself.

“The trip to Cedar Point is definitely worth the extra money,” says Thompson. The first 44 students to sign up for Cedar Point and pay their money will be able to go on the trip.
Events will continue on Tuesday, May 15 with a reception at Austyn’s sponsored by the Student Alumni Council.

Thompson feels that students attending the reception will be able to meet with alumni and familiarize themselves with that new social circle they will be entering in to. The event will be semi-casual and drinks and appetizers will be served.

On Tuesday evening, on Parson’s Field, a live band or possibly bands will perform for seniors. “We are trying to find good cover bands to perform,” says Ashton “and we are open to suggestions by seniors about which bands students want to see.”

Ashton is still looking into whether Tuesday’s performance will allow BYOB or if they will hire a third-party vender.

This year senior week will continue the tradition of the Sternwheel cruise on Wednesday May 17. Though there were several issues with the cruise last year and it “took a lot of convincing” to continue with the cruise this year, Ashton feels that this year will be more successful. “
This year the cruise will be more of a social event where you can casually drink with friends,” says Ashton. Student Senate is hopefully that this year’s cruise will not just be another out of control ‘booze cruise.’

Ashton also hopes that this year’s cruise will have two bars instead of one, which will make the levels less crowded and the cruise will be earlier in the day in order to avoid a chilly night on the river.

On Thursday, May 17 seniors will have the day off to relax and recover. No events are scheduled on Thursday. Senior week wraps up on Friday, May 18 with the Baccalaureate service. The time for the service has not yet been set. There will also be the president’s reception.

The price of Senior Week will be between $10 and $20 for the entire week of events. Students must sign up ahead of time to participate in Senior Week, as this year students will not be allowed to come to certain events and pay on the spot.

“This year we are focusing on quality rather than quantity,” says Ashton. Last year many events were setup each day, and many of the seniors did not attend a lot of the events.
Thompson and Aston encourage all seniors to email them suggestions for bands and entertainment.

Students who have a performer or band in mind can send their suggestions to thompsol@marietta.edu or bra001@marietta.edu.