The Gund Commons ballroom played host on Friday, Nov. 12 to Senior Soirée, an annual night of music and dancing hosted by and for each year’s graduating class. Senior Class President Grant Holt ’22 reflected on putting together this popular Kenyon tradition.
Organizing this year’s Senior Soirée was one of the most intensive projects of my Kenyon career. There were a lot of moving parts to manage: refining catering lists, contracting student bands, designing space arrangements, setting up decorations and distributing tickets. I was effectively a full-time event planner, on top of being a senior in college. How did I manage it all? Two words: Google Calendar.
Thankfully, I wasn’t working alone. Soirée was a team effort, and I cannot thank enough the Senior Class Committee, the Junior Class Committee, everyone in the Office of Student Engagement, our students bands, our student DJ, our student photographer, the Horn Sound Techs, our maintenance staff, the folks from AVI and everyone who helped set up decorations.
I think the importance of Soirée has never been more apparent. The senior class needs as many opportunities to make memories together this year. Soirée is one of those opportunities, but the last time that it happened like this, most of us were sophomores. It’s been a very long time since the senior class could gather like that. Seeing everyone in that room was nothing less than a blessing, and a sign that Kenyon — slowly, but surely — is climbing out of this pandemic.
