Graduating students will be provided the opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated on the red carpet at the second-ever Senior Soirée, hosted by student government.
The event will be held in the Convergent Media Center on Tuesday, May 9 at 8:00 p.m. The event is exclusively for those graduating in May 2023.
To provide more information on what the event will look like, current Student Government President Aubrianna Jones, future Student Government President Beverly Kinateder, and former Senior Senator Tyler Stanley were able to comment.
Jones described the idea for the event as a “red carpet kind of Oscars-style event.”
Jones shared how the committee plans to accomplish this: “There’ll be a red carpet in the CMC, we’ll have interviewers from the Chimes, we’ll have photographers…” Jones wants to make students feel special, saying, “[The feeling of being on the red carpet is] so celebratory that you feel like you’re a celebrity in that moment…That’s the goal.”
The attire is formal; students are encouraged to dress their best.
Stanley, who helped organize the event, expressed the importance of this.
“A lot of sororities and fraternities have formal events, and there is a good percentage of Capital’s student body that isn’t involved in those organizations. This event kind of gives them [the percentage of Capital’s student body not involved in fraternities or sororities] an opportunity to dress up, feel good about themselves and celebrate all the accomplishments they’ve made this year.”
This is a direct imitation of the previous year’s event, which Stanley stated was highly successful.
Stanley said, “It’s really important to me that the event continues to celebrate student excellence and provide students with a fun event to conclude their time at Capital.”
After the red carpet entrance, students will have the chance to enjoy a cash bar, catering from Aladdin and music from WXCU.
WXCU will also be providing karaoke, something Jones is particularly excited about. “… and if there’s karaoke, which there will be, I will sing a song. It doesn’t matter how busy I am, I will take time out of what I am doing.”
Towards the beginning of the event, students will have a chance to scan a QR code to vote on superlatives. Jones said, “I think we have about 20 superlatives… I’m excited to see who wins.”
In addition to the specific things happening, Kinateder shared, “the rooms will be open just for people to go in and mingle.”
Jones was very adamant that the event is meant to celebrate and recognize the graduating class. Jones called the event an “Appreciation send-off for seniors and time for them to unwind and be celebrated as they should, because college is hard and they should be proud.”
Stanley is proud of the legacy he is leaving behind. “I’m happy to see that other people appreciated [the event] and wanted to continue and make it a Senior Week tradition.”
The Senior Soirée is showing great promise to be a longstanding university tradition. When asked if she intended to continue the Senior Soirée in future years, Kinateder replied, “Yes, absolutely.”
