Juniors romp through rite of passage at Hey Day

" '96 is taking over, baby." Those were the words chanted by the Junior Class as they began the traditional Hey Day march that would take them from Hill Field to the Quadrangle to College Green and finally, to seniorhood. Clad in red T-shirts and armed with wooden canes, members of the Class of 1996 streamed out on to Locust Walk on a mission and nothing was going to get in the way. Their day had finally come. The annual Hey Day festivities officially started at noon Friday with a picnic at Hill Field, but the juniors were more interested in taking bites out of each other's styrofoam hats than anything that Dining Services could serve up. Laughing and dancing under the blazing sun, the class came together for the first time since Freshman Convocation in 1992. Squeals of joy rang out as students recognized old friends and classmates whom they had not seen in years. There was a lot of catching up to do. "It's a total freshman year reunion -- my whole freshman hall is here," College junior Jessica Basil said. "We're becoming friends with people we don't know, too." At 3 p.m. the mostly-inebriated crowd managed to arrange themselves into something that vaguely resembled a line at the gate of the field. A few who decided to break with tradition and don blue shirts and shower caps were noticeable drifting amid the overwhelming sea of red shirts and white hats. With Junior Class President Lenny Chang at the front of the line, the crowd began to proceed up Locust Walk, cheered on by the hundreds of spectators who had turned out to celebrate with them. The excitement was contagious. Even the slightly confused Penn Relay participants stopped stretching on College Green to join in the festivities. It took almost a half hour for the throng to make its way to the Quad, stopping frequently to dance with the Quaker band and bang their canes on everything and everyone in sight. The group then converged on the Junior Balcony. Several engaged in mock swordfighting on the way up the Quad steps, while the rest continued their celebration. "When I was a freshman, I knew what was going on, but I never imagined it would be this much fun," College junior Michael Katz said. "You don't get to wreak havoc on Penn like this everyday." By 4 p.m. the class made its way down Spruce Street, through Superblock, and across the bridge. They assembled on College Green, drinking out of mugs, cans, bottles -- and even fishbowls. A roar erupted from the crowd when President Judith Rodin appeared, wearing her own styrofoam hat. "It looks to me like the Class of '96 is ready," said Rodin, who had to wait a few minutes for the screams to die down before she could continue with her speech. "And so may I say to you, by the powers invested in me by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, I now declare you seniors!" The band immediately began a rousing rendition of the "Red and Blue" and the crowd jubilantly waved their canes to perform the Penn salute. Next up at the podium was Class of 1995 President Loren Mendell, who presented the ceremonial gavel to his successor, Chang, a Wharton junior. But before the ceremony was over, Mandell had a favor to ask. "I'm going to ask you to share your seniority with us, because none of us want to graduate," he said. "For the next three weeks, until May 22, there are going to be four thousand seniors." Chang's speech was also brief and his words were barely audible over the boisterous crowd. "Class of '96, we finally made it," he said. "We are finally seniors." After introducing next year's class board, Chang exited the podium, riding on the shoulders of his fellow classmates. The crowd took a while to disperse, as many remained on College Green long after the ceremony ended. "Hey Day is the point at which you realize how near the rest of your life is," College and Engineering junior Chip Keener said. "You have one more year left -- and then you enter the real world. "So, of course it's a reason to party," he added.

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