A Send Off to Remember

By Shannon Sigafoos

Though Mother Nature did her best to show up as an uninvited Commencement guest on Sunday, even the wettest and coldest of ceremonies couldn’t put a damper on three days of activities that have sent the Class of 2021 out in style.

New traditions were made in the form of “The Last Night,” which took place at the Steel Stacks campus. Other events included the Senior Toast (sponsored by the Lafayette Student Alumni Council, Office of Alumni Relations and the Annual Fund), a carnival, a farewell brunch with President Byerly (sponsored by the President’s Office), an outdoor cycling event, a movie night, and more. And in a year that was anything but traditional, it took a lot of forward thinking on behalf of the Lafayette Activities Forum (LAF) to pull it all together.

“Planning Senior Send-off alongside Vanessa Pearson and Melissa Dalrymple, our committee (comprised of Juliette Guanci ‘23, Ethan Ames ‘22, Sadie Wolfarth ‘22, Beatrice Arellano ‘21, and Maura DiVentura ’21) made sure each event were similar to what previous seniors have experienced, all while including new events, COVID-friendly alternatives, and making sure it was going to be events seniors would love,” says Karla Carino ’21, LAF’s director for the class year experience. “During one of our programming meetings, we knew seniors would love to have the 100 Nights event, so we proposed “The Last Night.” There was a lot of behind-the-scenes work to getting these events planned, and a lot of drafting that went into it, but I am so happy that the senior class got to have a memorable few days after graduation. I know it wasn’t what we are used to seeing seniors experience, nor what we expected our last semester to look like, but I think it’s a great way to end our journey here at Lafayette.”

“We also want to acknowledge that the events would not have been possible without Catering Services and Facilities, many of whom are working on the holiday weekend,” says Pearson, director of student involvement case administrator.