by Lauren Brooks
Sweet Briar College is a beautiful, small campus in Amherst, Virginia. It is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains on 3,250 acres of pastoral fields and woods. When the students arrived in August, everyone was amazed at how stunning the campus was. Everything is green with the sun shining through the trees and the mountains are visible in the background. “It’s like looking at a postcard picture everywhere you go,” said a few passing students as they were walking on the tree-ridden pathways to the various buildings. Beyond the campus’s beauty, what surprised new students the most was the College’s many traditions.
One of those traditions took at least one student by surprise. The first day a student named Katelyn was on campus. She was in the college’s cafeteria, called Prothro. The first thing to notice about Prothro is that there are three sets of doors that lead into the main dining area. Katelyn, who was with a group of new friends, suggested that she would find a table for them. She chose her lunch which consisted of a turkey sandwich with potato wedges, a salad, a piece of cake, and a glass of Ginger Ale. As she was on her way to hunt for a table, she made her first mistake at Sweet Briar: she walked through the middle doors into the dining room. As soon as she passed through the doors, all the seniors in the dining hall started yelling at her “Don’t walk through the senior doors!” Apparently, certain doors are reserved for seniors. Everyone else keep out.
When she got to the table, she put down her tray, feeling embarrassed and confused. “I’m never doing that again!” she vowed. She had no idea that she wasn’t supposed to walk through the middle doors.
Another unexpected tradition at Sweet Briar is “Step Singing.” Katelyn, Sam, who is purple haired, a singing enthusiast, and a future elementary teacher, and a few other girls headed that evening for “Reid Pit.” “Reid Pit” is on the ground floor of the dorm known as Reid, and it is furnished with couches, chairs, pool tables, and flat screen TVs. They went there to meet up with the entire class of 2022, so they could practice for the step singing. As soon as they all sat down, the president of the class said, “Okay, everyone. We’re going to practice our songs for the sophomores, juniors, and seniors. I sent out an email with all the songs and the class chant.”
Everyone got out their phones and started to look through their emails to find the songs. Then, they were ready to practice. After the first song, Katelyn leaned over to Sam and said, “That was terrible. Everyone is going to laugh if we sound like that. No one is together; we sound like we are dying.” But each time they improved, and finally they headed up to the upper quad to the senior steps. The senior steps are located in front of the Pannell Center facing Prothro. They are like the middle doors in the cafeteria because only the seniors can walk or sit on them. All the other classes were already there, so they headed out yelling their class chant. The president exclaimed “Class of 2022! Can I get a yeeeerrrr?” and the entire class would answer back “Yeeeeerrrrr!”
At the senior steps, the seniors were sitting there, each student wearing her senior robes. At Sweet Briar, senior robes are not always the prettiest things in the world, but they are important. Each year a senior will add something to her robe and then pass it down to a junior. Some senior robes are covered in feathers and others are covered in bells; those you can hear coming from a mile away.
During the class chant, Katelyn leaned over to Sam. “Why is this our chant?” she said.
“I have no clue,” Sam said “but I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t know what is going on.”
The class of 2022 lined up in front of the seniors, with the juniors on their right and the sophomores to the left. The first year students didn’t know what to do, but a junior explained: “Lay your class flag down in front of you, and then start your songs in order to each class.” A part of the welcome tradition is that the first-year students address each individual class.
The first-year students started yelling out their song which went “Bodak Yellow.”
“Say other classes you can’t mess with us if you wanted to. We’re the first years, another version of you, better and improved. Hit the store we can get it all, we don’t have to choose. And we’re quick cutting people off, so don’t get comfortable. Look, we’re in college now we make money moves. Said we’re in college now we make money moves. If we see you and we don’t speak that means we don’t rock with you. We’re another version of you better and improved.”
Next they sang to the sophomores to the tune of “Better now.”
“Y’all probably think that y’all are better now, better now. Y’all only say that when we’re not around, not around. We know y’all never meant to let us down, let us down. Should’ve tried harder, should’ve been better. Y’all really know that we’re the better class, better class. Just admit that y’all don’t have any class, any class. We know y’all never meant to let us down, let us down. Should’ve tried harder, should’ve been better.”
The sophomores, the first-year students were told, are the rivals of the first year students, so their song had to reflect that fact.
The next song was to the juniors, which is the sister class to the freshmen, so this song had to be sweet to show that they loved and appreciated them. The song went to the tune of “In My Feelings” and they sang “Juniors, do you love us? Are you riding? Say you’ll never ever leave from beside us. Cause we love y’all and we’re down for y’all always. Our bigs, do you love us? Are you riding? Say you’ll never ever leave from beside us. Cause we love y’all and we’re down for y’all always.”
At the end of the ceremony, the first years knelt down in front of the seniors and began to sing the final song.
After this they did Holla, Holla to the seniors. The Holla, Holla is another tradition at Sweet Briar where you chant and name the group or person that it goes to. All the first years sang “Here’s to the seniors, holla, holla, holla, nothing that you can not do. Here’s to the seniors, holla, holla, holla, nothing that you cannot do. Work for the good and work for the right, always doing something and doing it right. So here’s to the seniors, holla, holla, holla, nothing that you cannot do!”
When the freshmen were finished, they slowly all stood up and backed out of the circle because they were not allowed to turn their backs to the seniors. After the ceremony, all the students went back to Prothro to eat and talk about all the new memories that were already being made at this small, beautiful, women’s college in Amherst, Virginia.