Welcome Back Event - Recap

Thank you to everyone who made our inaugural Welcome Back celebration a huge success. Scores of Skyhawks visited the library during the Sept. 9 event to enjoy activities, games, and raffles. They also appreciated the free snacks and swag.

“I was thrilled with the number of students who came into the library to participate in one of the events, meet the Pet Therapy dogs, get swag or just see what we had going on,” said Jennifer Macaulay, director of the MacPhaidin Library.

According to Ms. Macaulay, the event was the work of library staff members Lindsay Boezi and Sydney Orason, who thought the welcome event would be a great way to advertise library spaces and services and to encourage students to find their place in the library.

During the event, students played Corn Hole and Kan Jam on the lawn outside the library or just hung out in the sunshine with our visiting therapy dogs – Daisy, Lola, and Henry. Inside, students toured some exhibits from the college archives. (Do you know that the archives have in its collection a signed first edition of John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage and the cufflinks President William McKinley was wearing when he was shot by his assassin on Sept. 6, 1901?)

While the items from the college archives drew a crowd, even more students gathered in the library’s Digital Lab to play Mario Kart. Others took a chance at guessing how many books are in our leisure reading collection (the correct answer is 1,262). Those who chose to check out a book from that collection – or anything else in the library – received one of our new MacPhaidin Library tote bags. 

One of the biggest hits of the day was the friendship bracelet-crafting station and the friendship bracelet giveaway. Thanks to reference librarian Lindsay Boezi, a talented crafter, more than a hundred of the intricately designed wrist decorations were distributed. We’re enjoying spotting them on our students, many of whom spent the afternoon in our huddle spaces, creating their own designs.

Faculty, staff, and administrators also joined in.

“Father John and Provost DeBrenna Agbenyiga both visited the library during the event. We were happy to have them join us,” Ms. Macaulay said. “The Welcome Back Event was a fantastic and valuable event. I would love to see it become a yearly celebration.”

Library staff are now planning on what sort of event they will host during finals that will help students find a bit of a break from end-of-semester stress and pressure. Watch our social media channels for our mid-semester polls asking what you’d like to see in the library on finals week.