By Alanna Dent, Contributing Writer
Susquehanna hosted its annual senior convocation on September 14. The event has been put on annually for nearly 20 years, and was organized by the department of Alumni Parent & Donor Engagement.
When asked about the purpose of convocation, which attracted over 330 seniors, Susan Kreisher, associate director of Alumni, Parent and Donor Engagement said: “Senior convo- cation is a long-standing tradition at Susquehanna. It’s a time for members of the senior class to come together to celebrate and build class unity as they begin their last year on campus.”
There was a welcome speech given by senior class president Anna Yurkova.
“I was very honored to be the master of ceremonies for such an important celebration to kick off our senior year,” Yurkova said.
Yurkova’s welcome speech was followed by Whitney Purcell, associate director of Career Development. Purcell discussed the importance of taking advantage of the center, especially as seniors who are joining the workforce in such a brief time. Purcell also wanted to stress the importance of the two career treks the center is sponsoring.
One is a trip to Washington D. C. on Thursday, September 28. The other is a trip to New York city on Wednesday, November 1st. Information on both trips is available at the Career Development Center located on the second floor of Fisher Hall.
Purcell’s speech was followed by Justin French, a Susquehanna senior. French talked to the stu- dents about Senior Champions. There are five elements that differentiates the Senior Champion from the average student.
The first of these elements is service. Any volunteer works the candidate does throughout the year is to be recorded and submitted on mySU.
The next element is advocacy. To achieve this a student needs to recruit a future River Hawk, reach out to an alumna who has helped shape the professional they have become, or complete the NET Promoter Survey.
This survey lets the career center know how likely you are to recommend Susquehanna to others. After advocacy comes giving. In order to advance to the fourth element, a student must give a monetary donation to Susquehanna University. According to Kreisher, even “the cost of a pitcher of beer [or] your daily Starbucks fix” would be substantial. There are two elements left, and the next is success. This comes by participating in one of the aforementioned career treks or by networking with alumni on LinkedIn.
The last element of a Senior Champion is Spirit. Students are asked to dress up in maroon and orange and post photos to their social media accounts.
President Jonathan Green then gave a toast and the event ended with the singing of Susquehanna’s Alma Mater by the entire senior class.
“Overall, I thought the event was really well put together,” said senior Jack McKivergan. “It was a lot of fun to be able to sit with friends, most of them since freshman year. It was a lot of fun and I am glad I went to it.”
Senior Chelsea Moran said: “I was overwhelmed going to the convocation. It really made me realize that my time here at Susquehanna is almost over when it feels like it just started.”
