Race to monument signifies graduation from program
When higher education and student affairs (HESA) graduate students finished their final, comprehensive exam Friday, they were met with more than a pretty day.
Racing to “The Torchbearer” — a horse statue outside of Wardlaw College — about 50 graduate students celebrated their completion of the program by touching and jumping on the monument.
As the superstition goes, if students touch it before the exam, they’ll fail.
So as they ran out of Wardlaw, the program’s first-year students and faculty came out in support and decorated the statue with bright streamers and balloons.
The “comps” exam marks the end of a two-year, theory-to-practice program, in which graduate students learn how to associate academics and student affairs work.
Because of the program’s rigor, first-years are assigned an older “comps buddy,” to whom they send encouraging emails and gifts as the exam approaches.
“For two to three weeks, comps buddies will send prizes to inspire them while they are intensely studying,” said Jennifer Black, president of the Student Personnel Association (SPA). “They can choose who their buddies are, but usually it’s a random pairing.”
The graduates didn’t learn who their partners were until Friday, when the first-years revealed themselves by holding personalized signs.
“I made a secret email account and sent encouraging messages to [my buddy], as well as head massagers and CDs,” said Andy Foiles, a first-year student in the HESA program. “It’s important to have this tradition because it gives an identity to the program and is a culmination of our studies.”
Foiles said he is looking forward to the celebration next year, as he is opting to take the exam rather than write a thesis, a decision most graduates make.
If students do choose to write a thesis, the tradition maintains that they lock it in by touching the statue.
Stephanie Hellenga and Jessie Wortham, second-year HESA students, echoed Foiles, saying they saw the festivities as an exciting end to their studies. They dressed up for the occasion, wearing matching T-shirts printed simply with #YOTCO — “you only take comps once.” On the back was a picture of the Most Interesting Man in the World created by Dos Equis.
Hellenga and Wortham were not alone in their attire. Other students wore star-spangled pants, funny hats and colorful sunglasses. Some held signs with the hashtag #putahoodonit, prompting attendees of the event to join in on the graduation celebrations on Twitter.
“No one really knows how this tradition got started, but I think it’s only going to keep growing from here,” said Megan Carlier, SPA’s special events director.
Jenny Bloom, HESA’s program director, agreed and praised the event for recognizing students’ hard work.
“It certainly is a fun event, and it is a great opportunity for our second-year students to be embraced by the campus community,” Bloom said.