An Extensive (and Slightly Biased) Review of RASA’s First Ever Winter Grad Week (and the Graduation Ceremony)
by Aimah Moiz
Every spring semester RASA organizes an entire team to give the summer graduates a week full of partying before they wear their graduation gowns and caps and bid farewell. Owing to the small number of people graduating after the fall semester, the winter graduates never enjoyed the same number of events dedicated solely to them.
However, last year some winter graduates mentioned to the RASA board that they found this to be a pity. The RASA board, being as considerate as it is, decided they were going to try making the week preceding graduation special as well. They were going to make sure all UCR graduates get a grad week. As creating a team for small scale events did not seem feasible, the RASA board took it on themselves to make this week as special as they possibly could for the new students as well as the graduating ones.
Pubcrawl
The most scandalous event of Grad week and Introweek is the pubcrawl. It is one that is perhaps enjoyed the most by all students, those graduating and even those who still have a few semesters left.The Grad week pubcrawl is generally better than the Introweek pub crawl as attending students are older (and let’s not forget bolder) than the shy, sometimes-not-yet-eighteen-years-old newbies. Owing to its reputation, the Media Group is generally told to be wary of their coverage of it. Therefore, Tabula Rasa will refrain from mentioning any embarrassing anecdotes of your stats project partner giving a lap dance or your house mate seducing someone with a strip tease. However, what is important to know is that ‘Team Tessa’ won by a total of 45 points and Erodios, the one and only fraternity, came second. Otherwise, what happens at the pub crawl stays at the pub crawl… unless, of course, it finds its way in the form of a secret, unethical recording in somebody’s cell phone.
Faculty and Staff Dinner
Instead of being held at the Burgerzaal as is traditionally the case, the very fancy three course meal was served at Hotel the Roosevelt this time. Dean Oomen told an interesting story of how she once set off to Winterberg ski trip resort in Germany but instead of arriving at a snow filled hilltop she found herself at a very isolated lush green area with no snow to be found. Upon knocking on the door of a lone cabin, she found out that there are two places by the name of Winterberg in Germany and how she had found herself in the other Winterberg. She wondered how amusing it would be if one of the students accidentally showed up at the Roosevelt Hotel and were to inquire about course registration.
“Could I enroll in A&H 131 please?”
“Umm… I am sorry but we do not have that room on our list…”
It must be said that the RASA chair, Fenna van Engelen, was speaking (or as we like to call it, ‘speeching’) to the graduates with just as much passion as she had spoken to the new students earlier in the week. While she hoped to encourage the new set of students to become enthusiastic RASA members, she wished to thank the graduates for all they had done during their time at UCR. She refreshed their memories by reminding them of pre-Elliott times when they would walk around the city looking for bars to host parties in, when they, with their effort and spirit, made it possible for everyone to feel the RASA spirit. She spoke of how she had seen them grow over the semesters and how she was certain that they will all do something to better the world.
After the appetizer, the platters for the main course were placed on the tables instead of being offered as individual servings, which thus ensured that people had to at least exchange glances. In this process some even managed to start talking to each other. Graduates confessed it was a nice way to make sure that they converse with random faculty and staff members with whom they never had contact with before. (Kudos to Fenna and Jane for coming up with this idea!) Nevertheless it is always a good idea for everyone to meet the graduates, after all, you all make us proud.
Special Event
This event was combined with Introweek. Both the new students as well as the old ones participated in the same activities which were cake decoration, painting of the iconic three fishes and theatrical games. The first game was called ‘Do you like your neighbours?’ In this game, everyone would sit in a circle around one person standing in the middle. This middle person would ask someone, “Do you like your neigbours?” If the person would reply yes, then the people on either side would have to switch places, if the person replies no then they would have to indicate who they like. For instance they could respond, “I don’t like my neighbours. But I do like people who are wearing red.” Then the people wearing red would have to swap. The whole aim of the game was to not be in the middle of the circle so when everyone swapped the person in the middle would try to steal a seat.
After this the participants split to make short films with their respective families and teams. Their rather ridiculous attempts were then compiled and will be released by CameRa soon.
The afternoon marked the customary Introweek Thursday Sports Day in which the newbies fiercely battled neck-to-neck with the oldies. The graduates (Team Tessa to be specific) won that round, officially marking their supremacy over the new kids.
Family Event
This event had been very close to being cancelled owing to the small number of sign ups. However, the RASA board refused to let such a drawback stop them from making the event special for the families of those who did sign up. The aim of the family event was to give the families of the graduates a flavor of life at UCR.
The Master Class
It started with Dr. Joseph Resovsky’s master class on Earth System science which included a demonstration with olive oil and water. If one were to throw salt on the oil, it would start circulating thereby illustrating how a lava lamp works.
After this families could make a choice of two from three of the following activities; Bartending Academy, Campus Tour and an introduction to RASA committees.
Bartending Academy
In this round families were taken to Elliott and shown how to properly tap a beer. One of the most important things to remember, which is quite often forgotten, is the amount of foam present as it is very easy to have too little or too much. The way to regulate it is to angle the glass and open the tap all the way and then to slowly tilt the glass till it reaches a thickness of two fingers. After this demonstration everyone enjoyed some finely tapped beer.
Campus Tour
The parents who received the campus tour were baffled with Bachtensteene’s kitchen. They felt it was really luxurious for students to be able to have such facilities. Owing to shortage of time they only managed to visit Bagijnhof thereafter. As that was also not planned, the tour of B4 felt very authentic as the living room proved to be an absolute mess.
RASA Committee Events
There were two committees that had arranged activities; UCRadio and THEATRA. UCRadio set up a make-shift studio in C-19, complete with four mics, a tech-person sitting behind a computer checking the audio, and an ecstatic, perhaps even slightly offensive, host. Each family was asked to seat themselves around the mics, while the host proceeded to ask them slightly uncomfortable (at least for the graduates) questions. Here is a short preview:
“We understand that your *insert relation here* is graduating from university tomorrow. This must bring up a lot of feelings and perhaps some memories. Would you please care to share some of the most embarrassing stories that you have of them today?”
The reactions to this question were quite amusing. RASA treasurer 2013-2014, Marius d’Hont’s family decided to take a peek into his love life. Jasper Makkinje and his sister Anna, who is also a UCR student spoke about what it is like to study at the same university as one’s sibling. However, the most amusing reaction was by former UCRadio chair, James Twose’s parents who did not spare him in the least by listing quite a few embarrassing stories from his childhood. You can listen to these reactions yourself as all of the recordings (after taking permission from the respective parties) will be aired soon on UCRadio.
This activity was followed by THEATRA games; ‘Zip Zap Boing’ and ‘What are you doing?’ ‘Zip Zap Boing’ is a game THEATRA members play as a focusing exercise. All participants stand in a circle while one person holds a pretend ball of fire. This ‘ball of fire’ is passed around by ‘Zipping’ it to the person on your right. It can also be ‘Zapped’ to any person in the circle. If one wishes to deflect the ‘ball’ from themselves they can ‘Boing’ in the case which the ball is bounced back to the person who passed the ball originally who must then pass it to someone else. This game was particularly amusing, mostly owing to the slight confusions that were caused or because of stubborn parents who insisted that a ‘Zap’ could serve as a ‘Zip’.
The other game was ‘What are you doing?’ in which one person stands in the middle doing an action. Another person then comes and asks them ‘What are you doing?’ they answer an activity which the questioner has to do until someone comes and makes an inquiry to them. The most interesting responses were “I am teaching an Earth System Science class for parents”, “I am doing a rap” and “I am jumping on a pogo stick”.
At the end of the day the families were very happy to have received a flavor of UCR life (I mean it was all fun and games without deadlines or stress so of course they enjoyed it).
Graduation Day
At the end of the week was the graduation ceremony. This was an event which was not organized by RASA but by UCR, however the RASA board was present to receive the graduates and give them a small parting present.
The ceremony began at 16:00 at the Nieuwe Kerk in the Middelburg Abbey. After everyone was seated the organ began to play and the academic procession entered, with the beadle upfront carrying the ceremonial UCR mace, followed by faculty members and then the graduates.
The winter graduates are thought to be very fortunate as, owing to their small class size, each of them receives a short speech by their head of department.
Professor Ger Rijkers, head of the Science department introduced himself as the head of the department in which students “have to work much harder to get slightly lower grades” than students from the other departments. He then proceeded to talk at length about all the science graduates. It must be said that Professor Rijkers used the one minute per student time to the fullest by giving quite a few details about them. He told the audience about the various internships the students had done at reputable institutes and their passion for their subjects as well as their other interests, such as their achievements, both academic and extracurricular. It was quite clear that he had spent quite a bit of time finding those facts. As for those who he had never taught himself, he asked their teachers. This was a revelation that was made when he mentioned talking to the chemistry instructor Jaap Hanekamp about this student via Whatsapp and then decided to thrust out his phone and read the exact remarks made.
The next round of speeches was made by the head of the Social Science department Professor Elisabeth Wiese. Despite the large number of students in the department, this set of speeches was rather short as Professor Wiese only mentioned the name of the graduate followed by a short sentence on what their interest was. It is possible that she may have conducted a survey to obtain her information. If she did so, I suppose it goes to show the importance and practicality of the much loathed, mandatory, statistics courses.
The final round of speeches was made by the head of the Arts and Humanities department, Professor Albert Clement. He also took his time to inform the audience about the interests and accomplishments of the students in his department. It was also clear that he enjoyed a very casual relationship with his students as he joked how Johannes Nugteren (better known as Han, RASA treasurer 2014-2015) took the idiom ‘break a leg’ quite literally by actually breaking his leg last semester and Steinar Boomsma, RASA secretary 2013-2014, who is known to wish to never leave Middelburg was finally leaving as well. Steinar himself admitted that despite his love for UCR and Middelburg, after a good three and a half years, it was time for him to leave.
Before closing off the ceremony Dean Oomen decided it would be best to give the floor to the graduates. They were represented by Ivar Troost, RASA chair 2014-2015, who gave a final tear jerking speech. He walked them through the past three years, highlighting all the changes that the student community had undergone; from RA to UCR, the creation of the Common House Elliott by the students themselves, the final moving of the RASA office marking the end of the ‘Eleanor Era’ and the beginning of the ‘Elliott Era’.
I believe the most notable point Ivar mentioned was how he viewed the UCR community as a parliament of critical thinkers. “Neither fully fragmented nor slavishly dogmatic,” but “an ever-perpetuating conversation with itself, each member trying to get the best out of all of us and to foster mutual understanding.”
He did mention how he had seen them not only grow, but grow together. How they struggled with courses, with personal problems but with the parliament’s support, managed to overcome everything. And while the time had come to move out of this ‘fish-bowlian’ society, out into the real world, they would “take with you your piece of the parliament we established, and think back to the rest of us and what we learned from each other.”
He ended his speech, and subsequently the ceremony by raising a motion on the floor. “To promise to each other that in whatever we do after our parting, we will always keep striving to make the world a little more beautiful and just.”
Class of 2016, you will be missed, perhaps you already are being missed, but good luck for the years to come. This biased reporter will now end, hoping that you had a very memorable Grad week, just as memorable as your time spent at UCR was and hopes that you will indeed live up to the promise you made.
Aimah Moiz, Class of 2017, is a Physics and Math major from Karachi, Pakistan.
