Though Rowan University has evolved rapidly over the second half of its history, a few favorite traditions have endured. Their annual observance by students, faculty, staff and alumni bring together a sprawling community.
For years, the University has celebrated the spring semester with an event for students. It was called Spring Weekend in the 1980s, Spring Fest in the early 2000s, The Show in 2009, Profstock, which began in 2011, and finally Hollybash, which debuted in 2016.
Held each April, Hollybash includes food trucks, carnival rides, outdoor games and a concert by a major artist. Organized by the Chamberlain Student Center & Campus Activities, Hollybash is open to students and employees.
In the University’s early years, a formal convocation ceremony welcomed first-year students to campus. Faculty, staff and administrators donned full academic regalia for the ceremony, which marked the official start of the academic career of first-year students.
In the mid-2000s, the ceremony gave way to a new tradition: the annual President’s Welcome & Picnic.
Held each fall on the weekend before classes begin, the event begins with a band parading through campus, gathering students from each residence hall. Then, students process up Whitney Avenue and through the welcome gate to the University Green. There, the Rowan torch is ceremonially passed from the Student Government Association (SGA) president to a representative of the new class. The University president and the SGA president also offer words of welcome.
The casual celebration includes lawn games, information tables hosted by various student organizations and a picnic.
More than 50 years ago, students at Rowan Radio 89.7 WGLS-FM founded an annual charitable event they called Project Santa to assist Gloucester County families in need. The radiothon stretched over a couple of days and involved a number of student groups.
Now called Holiday Helper, the event has raised thousands of dollars for numerous charities, including Toys for Tots and the Front Row Foundation.
Today, students hold an auction of in-demand items—including those signed by sports and entertainment figures—themed baskets, and even lunch with the president of the University.
Student University Programmers has hosted Holiday Helper, one of the University’s longest standing fundraising traditions, since 2012. In recent years, the Holiday Helper auction has been held virtually.
A Rowan tradition since at least the 1940s, the annual Alumni Homecoming Day was revived following World War II with intercollegiate football games. By the 1980s and ‘90s, the event featured elaborate parade floats constructed by student clubs, fraternities, sororities and residence halls. Each year, the celebration centered around a different theme.
Students were not allowed to work on their floats until after the annual pep rally and bonfire on Friday evening. Construction continued through the night until the 11 a.m. parade the following day. Clubs that were caught constructing their floats ahead of time were disqualified from the float competition. The float competition included a skit component and participants were judged on the complexity of their dance performance.
Student organizations that were too small to construct a float were encouraged to make hand-held banners for the parade instead.
The Torch Run from Trenton to Glassboro, part of Homecoming festivities, dates back to at least 1958. Upon completing the last leg of a 40-person relay, senior James Hawkins arrived at College Hall to pass the Torch of Knowledge to Student Council President John Melchoir.
This student-organized event flourished through the early 1960s and has reemerged since. During the school’s 75th Anniversary festivities, Rowan employee and alumnus Ed Ziegler handed off the Torch of Knowledge to then-president Dr. Donald J. Farish.
As part of the Centennial Homecoming celebration, 11 runners carried the flaming torch to every Rowan campus, following a route that covered 26.6 miles.
It was through these traditions, just as much as curriculum expansions and plans for new buildings, that the school grew and developed into Rowan University as we know it today.