Senior Week celebrates the hard work and dedication of its senior class. During this week, the tough times of finals, midterms and all- nighters are forgotten in favor of the amazing memories that four years of college provide. During Senior Week, this group of students who grew together—from their very first steps as freshman to their last ones on the Commencement ceremony stage—will be celebrated as part of the UR family.
What is celebrated is the community: its cultural diversity, its talents, its brilliance and its uniqueness. To do so, what could be a better way than the Senior Farewell Concert, which illustrates with music and dance the singularity of the college experience?
The concert, taking place in Strong Auditorium on Saturday May 16, will be the last chance for all cultural and artistic student groups to pay tribute to the graduating seniors and for the seniors themselves to perform with the groups that have defined their college experiences. Starring the Midnight Ramblers, Trebellious, Louvre, the Ballet Performance Group (BPG), Sihir Bellydance Ensemble, Celtic and many others, the show will highlight the impressive collection of skills and talents that UR students have, beyond those evidenced in the diplomas they will receive the next day.
Senior Melanie Firestone is one such talented individual and has been dancing with BPG since her freshman year. BPG will be performing two pieces in the Farewell Concert: one of them, “The Music Box,” was choreographed by Firestone herself, who specifically expresses her excitement to “share the stage with some of her closest friends one last time” under such special circumstances. “It is an honor to perform with these amazing dancers,” she said.
The Senior Farewell Concert is, however, not just an experience for seniors only. Ava Sauer, a rising sophomore and member of Trebellious, UR’s newest a cappella group, reflected upon the impact the senior members of her group have had on her overall college experience. Although she has only had a year to get to know the seniors in Trebellious, she considers herself “close with all of them,” and “even best friends with some.” Sauer sees their presence as a positive influence that will be missed. She says that they brought musical talent and experience to the group of singers.
“Their spark and creative energy” is what will be missed the most by Sauer, adding that senior members “were not only important to the group but to her personally.”
Letting them go is a necessity, no matter how painful it is—a fact that Sauer, like everyone else, understands.
“I’m equally sad to see them go and happy to celebrate their successful completion of college,” she said.
Of course, this is the ultimate meaning of the Farewell Concert: the celebration of a class, of a community, of friends and talented individuals, whose roles we as underclassmen will have to fill soon enough.
Troadec is a member of the Class of 2016
