Villanova University

Early year, Inter–Hall Council gives you the opportunity to show your dorm pride and compete with all the other dorms on campus for the title of the best dorm. Collecting a group of friends, students engage head–on with the other dorms for honor and pride. Kicking it off with a torch–lighting ceremony, teams compete in events ranging from tug–of–war to sumo wrestling in big, overstuffed suits. Interspersed among the events are a huge barbeque, music, cotton candy, and other fun stuff.

At the completion of freshmen orientation every year, students and orientation counselors pack into the Pavilion for a very moving ceremony. After a few speeches by assorted administrators and guest speakers, all the students are given a candle. Then, one by one, each student lights the person's candle next to them until everyone in the freshman class has a lit candle. After singing the alma mater, the candles are blown out again until senior year when the same class comes together again in the Pavilion for the same ceremony that started it all.

A tradition mostly exclusive to Greeks, it is a weeklong competition with different events held around campus to select the number one fraternity and sorority for the year. Each day of events have point values, and at the end of the week all the points are tallied up to find the winner.

Held in the fall, Homecoming is a chance for alumni and students to get together and have a good time. Sheehan Beach is closed down to anyone under 21, but if you are of age, it's free beer all day. There are barbeques before the football game, and it's probably the most popular and fun football game of the season.

No matter if you are a fan of basketball or not, one thing not to be missed is the men's basketball games. Outside the heated competitive games against school rivals, the games themselves are a great way to get a feel about the community of Villanova. Alumni and students alike all share in traditions that have been around since the start of the team. Some examples are that at every home game, the team runs down the student section before going on the court, or at the end of the game, win or lose, the team faces the student section and together everyone sings the alma mater.

Every year for the last 16 years, Villanova has been home to the Pennsylvania Special Olympics. While it is supposed to be for the players involved, Villanova students get into it as much as the competitors and parents do. Different games are held all over campus, and it's never hard to spot a group of passing students that decided to stay and cheer on the teams. Beyond that, about half the campus actively participates in putting it together, whether it's running the opening ceremonies or making sure the teams are where they need to be, it's not hard to be caught up in the enthusiasm the athletes bring to the games.

In honor of the school's patron saint, Saint Thomas of Villanova, every September students have an abbreviated class day, followed up by a mass, a parade, and then a huge barbeque. Before mass, students, administrators, and the Augustinians line up outside the church and head over to the Pavilion for convocation and then onto Sheehan Beach, where there are huge barbeque pits and free food for all students.

After everyone's packed up and gone home, the graduating seniors stay behind for a week of memories and fun. During the week, seniors attend numerous award ceremonies, banquets, and cocktails honoring their last four years at Villanova. On the weekend is the Pub Crawl, where seniors organize into large groups and bounce from bar to bar for most of the weekend in a final farewell.