Senior Week 2018 will feature a few new events while maintaining its focus on giving seniors a final week to have fun and say goodbye to Notre Dame.
Seniors Anna Schierl and Molly Robinson, this year’s co-chairs of Senior Week, are the first chairs the Senior Class Council has chosen outside of student government, Robinson said. However, she does not think the process of planning Senior Week has changed very much. The two still included familiar events like the Chicago Cubs game and the class trip to the Grotto during Senior Week this year.
The chairs also decided to add a graduation cap decorating event Saturday and a class bonfire Thursday, Schierl said.
“The vision [was], finish the [Grotto trip] and then walk up the road and the fire will be started,” she said. “You can go and spend a little bit more time with your friends.”
Other events included bowling, trivia, a class picnic and Domerfest 2.0.
Of the events, Robinson said the Commencement Ball required the most planning.
“There’s a lot of working gears in terms of tickets and guest tickets, what colors of linen and all that kind of thing,” she said.
Schierl recalled attending the Commencement Ball last year as a junior volunteer and said the dance was one of her favorite events.
“It’s so well-timed in the week,” Schierl said of the Wednesday evening event. “It feels so important, but it’s still lighthearted. Everyone gets to dress up … but also still be whimsical and collegiate.”
Schierl and Robinson said they also both looked forward to the Grotto trip, which they anticipated being a very emotional event.
Though the co-chairs helped plan Senior Week throughout the year, once the week started, they had the chance to participate in all the events alongside their classmates, Schierl said.
“[The co-chairs] hand off all of the duties to a group of junior volunteers, and they do all the manual labor for the week,” she said. “We are just free to have everything the way we want it and then just attend.”
Senior Week is an important end to students’ time at Notre Dame, Schierl said. However, she added, it is not necessarily supposed to rekindle trivial friendships.
“The vision is not [to] run around and reconnect with everyone you’ve ever met at Notre Dame,” Schierl said. “That random person in your sophomore class that you’ve never talked to again, that’s not the point of Senior Week.”
Instead, Senior Week should be about celebrating seniors’ close friendships, Schierl said.
“The point of Senior Week is to spend some time with the people that you love,” she said. “Before you’re scattered to the ends of the Earth, have a little bit of time to just be together and be in this space that we all love so much.”
Robinson also said Senior Week focuses on the people who have impacted your time at the University.
“A lot of the Notre Dame experience is heavily dependent on who you know and your friends and the people that got you through it,” Robinson said. “Senior Week is about celebrating that and being able to reflect and go into graduation with a little spirit of celebration.”
