Only a week ago the campus was full of snow and gray slush. Now there are students playing games in the green space and seniors taking graduation photos. People are slowly moving out their belongings and making travel plans for the summer. The atmosphere has fully transitioned to spring on campus.
Spring semester is usually full of goodbyes. Seniors make plans to go off and start their lives outside of GVU. Clubs and sports come to an end and make plans for the next year. This being said, end of the year ceremonies are in full swing. Some of the biggest end of the year events at GVU include the Viktors, the Golden Vikings, GV Glow and Graduation.
The Golden Vikings is an end of the year ceremony for people involved in student leadership. This event is held in the Grand View Lutheran Church. At the end of the ceremony the students are given awards that they vote on prior. Sophomore Ava Guy attended this event as a member of the Student Activities Council (SAC).
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“I think my favorite part of it is celebrating people who put so much into this school. It’s always so exciting when people get their awards they worked hard for,” Guy said. “If I could change one thing about it is making it on a more convenient day. This year it was the day after we got back from nationals. We also have student leadership training the day leading up to it so people are pretty tired.”
This event exists to give these students the chance to celebrate all of their hard work throughout the school year. As a part of the celebration, desserts and mocktails are also provided.
“SAC has given me lots of opportunities to meet some people I probably wouldn’t have known otherwise. It also is a really good opportunity to work on your communication skills and professionalism. I have learned a lot about reaching out to businesses and planning events. So many things that are really good life skills and help me in my future,” Guy said.
Another spring event at GVU is the Viktors. The Viktors is a celebration for all of the student athletes at GVU. President Keck speaks as well as other leaders on campus. This event is held at Prairie Meadows and gives closure to all of the athletes’ seasons.
The drumline made an entrance to start the Viktors off. Sophomore Aliya Brandt said this immediately added to upbeat energy and got everyone’s attention. Students are also called up and recognized for their personal victories.
“It was nothing like I expected. Something that was really fun about it was that there were walk up songs for all of the speakers. Something else that was fun was at the end of the ceremony president Keck cheered with everyone there that was of age,” Brandt said. “Sometimes at those events since it’s so big you feel out of place, but I did not feel out of place at all.”
The last student event at GVU is GV Glow. GV Glow is a high energy dance party with concert style DJ and a laser light show featuring UV reactive foam. It is located in a big tent in the parking lot. Senior, Lexi Van Utrecht helped plan this event as a member of SAC.
Ginevra Spinelli (Ginevra Spinelli)
“I think the purpose of GV Glow is to give students something to look forward to at the end of the year. It’s our biggest event of the year, so it’s something we lead up to throughout the year and make sure we’re saving enough money for it. It’s usually a couple weeks before finals week, so I feel like it gives students that motivation to finish it out,” Van Utrecht said. “And what I like about it too is it just brings the whole campus together in one area. We hope that people make memories that after their time at Grand View, they look back on and they talk about GV Glow.”
Van Utrecht explains that they always have the students’ interests in mind when planning events. She also explained that one thing SAC struggles with is getting the word out about events. There are flyers in the residence halls and scattered throughout campus. Van Utrecht also explained that they try to switch things up with GV Glow every year to keep it interesting.
“I would say sometimes the hardest part is making sure that it’s what the students want. Sometimes they don’t really give us feedback when we do reach out and say, what should we do differently this year? Usually picking the music can be difficult because I feel like that changes all the time. So picking what music is popular is important,” Van Utrecht said.
Spring semester is bittersweet for many reasons. The biggest one being it’s the seniors last semester.
“My favorite thing about spring semester is probably when the weather gets warm and people start to hang out in the green space. It makes it feel a little more homey and I think seeing everyone outside out and about is just really fun. Since I’m a senior everything is coming to an end. So I feel like people really just wanna make the most of every second they have to do something,” Van Utrecht said.
Warmer weather and a more relaxed atmosphere often bring students together, creating memories that feel even more meaningful as graduation nears.
