April 22, 2012

All Hail the Seniors

Pretty awesome thing about Agnes? We have scads of traditions. Scads, I tell you. Egad! First-year orientation is basically just memorizing each and every tradition so newbies can be part of the big Scottie family doing all of the Scottie family things. Since I will be an alumnae in just a mere 3 weeks (is this real life?) AND this weekend is alum weekend, I decided to dedicate this post to Agnes Scott. And to the things in which I have thoroughly enjoyed partaking these past four five years. Things that I will do (or sing!) for the rest of my life.


  • The ring. Oh my lawd, the ring. The black onyx ring and becoming part of the Black Ring Mafia is something of a rite of passage at Agnes. The most painful part of the four years at Agnes is having to wait until spring semester of sophomore year to get the ring. I'm sure waiting to get this ring, this prized possession, is way more intense than waiting for a baby to be born. Just sayin'. Love dat ring. While the ring itself is a tradition, the way it is worn is also important. During your time at Agnes, the "ASC" letters face you. At graduation you turn the ring to face the world. Have I mentioned that in 3 weeks I'll be turning my ring to face y'all? 
Hand out, ring out. Standard Ring Ceremony pose.

  • Hub Sing. I could never accurately describe the happenings and emotions of a Hub Sing in a way that would make a non-Scottie understand and appreciate it. Here is my try: Students and alums and Trustees and President Kiss and staff and faculty gather around the piano in the Hub and sing old Agnes Scott songs. And merrily drink. Song example:
I'm a twidley twat from Agnes Scott and I go with a boy from Tech
He took me to the Varsity and taught me how to neck.
He filled me up with liquor, he filled me up with beer
And now I am the mother of a helluva engineer.

So basically, that sums it up. I think you probably now understand just how amazing this is. If not, feel free to stop by and sing with us sometime. Or keep reading those lyrics out loud. Hey-oh! He filled me up with liquor!

"Filled me up with beer!"

  • Honor System. Here at Agnesland, we run by a honor code. This Honor pledge is signed in blood during first year Orientation. The huge scrolls then are hung in the classroom building to remind students that they are responsible to living honorably. This honor code unfortunately does not apply to the real world. However, while I am here for several more weeks I will leave my phone and my wallet and my life and small children at my table while I walk away and when I come back 3 hours later my phone and wallet and life and that small child will still be there! So cool!
Happy Scotties after signing the Honor Code.

  • Ringing the bell. We Scotties know how to party. And there is no party like celebrating a new job or grad school admittance. Instead of telling the world/City of Decatur with our voices, we tell them with a bell ring. Oh yeah, and you get to sign your name in the bell tower. Excuse me, I mean give the bell tower wall your autograph. I'm autographing and ring ring ringing that bell on Friday, eeee! Jobs! Grad school! Party! Ring!
That's my roommate ringing the bell like a boss last Friday.


There are about 136 (or possibly 137) more Agnes Scott traditions, but this is a good introduction for those of you who think we prance around drinking tea with our pinkies out while wearing gloves. (We only do that on Sundays...). 

Now, what's a Yippee! It's MLE tradition? Oh, that's right. Getting scads of comments on the posts. Go forth and comment!

2 comments:

MaryCaroline said...

You're graduating?

Ruth said...

Life is not nearly as great without Hub Sings.