Twenty years ago last month, the Spice Girls were proclaiming Girl Power (while also telling us what they want, what they really, really want) and Hanson's MMMBop was about to take over the country. Meanwhile, I graduated from college. I nearly missed this anniversary except for a former mentor/supervisor posting something on Facebook about Ithaca College's Senior Splash. Senior Splash sounds innocent enough, and it is. During Senior Week, seniors jump into the campus fountain. 20 years ago, Fountain Day, as it was known then, was a drunk fest.
Let me preface this post by writing that I used to work as a student affairs professional. As someone that worked with students, I applaud Ithaca College for continuing this tradition and making it much, much safer for students. As a student 20 years ago, Fountain Day was awesome!
On the final day of classes, seniors gathered at the Textor Ball on the middle of the campus. While I don't remember if students drank at Textor Ball (though I think we did), there was definitely pre-gaming that occurred. Then, we ran across the quad and jumped into the fountain. There was lots of splashing, and hugging, and celebrating. I kissed a girl, or she kissed me. At one point, someone's lit cigar went into the back of my hand. Instead of getting any type of first aid, I just dipped my hand into the cold, dirty water and kept it there. I had that mark on my hand for years.
I also remember getting out of the fountain and, soaking wet, going up to the college president's office with a few friends to try to convince him to jump into the fountain. Actually, I have no idea why we went there. Again, there was lots of drinking involved. Fortunately, he wasn't there.
After Fountain Day ended, I went back to my room, exhausted and nauseous. It may have been more that nausea. After about an hour, I cleaned myself up to go to a ceremony where I was getting inducted into the History Honors Society. My head was pounding during the reception, and then we had to repeat some type of pledge. Instead of short sentences or statements, the professor said something like, "I am honored to be part of a professional society where learning about history is important, and I promise to do my best, to do my duty, to help other people, and to obey the law of the pack with liberty and justice for all, and I wanna really, really, really wanna zigazig ah." This was impossible even if everyone was completely sober.
That night, I went over to some friends' house for a party. Sort of. All of the seniors were wiped out from the day's festivities. I remember one sophomore was there and really wanted to go crazy while the rest of us just wanted to relax and possibly sleep.
Anyway, congrats to the 2017 Ithaca College students who graduated recently and enjoyed Senior Splash! And congrats to all of the 1997 IC graduates who graduated 20 years ago and (hopefully) didn't get injured during Fountain Day!
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