Boston University is hosting a variety of free events for the Class of 2024 Friday through Sunday as a way to make up for last year’s lack of large in-person activities. The scheduled events include a red carpet party, a mini-golf tournament, an ’80s themed skating and dancing night and a museum night.
Each activity will be held in a different location, from the George Sherman Union, the New Balance Field, Agganis Arena and the Museum of Science. Bus transportation will be provided throughout the night to the museum.
Students will be required to show their green badges, bring their BU ID and wear a mask for all indoor activities.
Kenneth Elmore, BU dean of students and the associate provost, said the Dean of Students office first thought of the idea in late May, and heavy planning began in June with the Student Activities Office.
“I wanted it to be a bit of a gift from my office to the Class of 2024,” Elmore said. “They started off being tested and being told to stay in their room and eating dinners from boxes and they spent a good part of the year doing that so I thought it would be a nice thing to give them an opportunity to do something they weren’t able to so readily do.”
Elmore said the events were planned with COVID-19 protocols in mind while also fulfilling their goal of making it a “welcome.”
“We wanted to do as much as we could to keep things either outside or in big spaces,” he said. “But the real goal is to give people a chance to see each other and gather with each other in a way that they haven’t been able to do.”
One of the large spaces selected was the Museum of Science — the only location not on BU property.
“The Museum of Science is one of those places that I think a lot of people may have gone to [years ago], have never been to and maybe it’s on a bucket list,” Elmore said. “What’s more, it’s large and large enough to handle the number of people that we anticipate showing up.”
Clara Haymon, a sophomore in the College of General Studies, said she thought the upcoming plans are “really sweet.”
“We didn’t really get that normal experience,” Haymon said. “I think that’s really sweet that they’re making an effort to kind of let us be new again, in a way.”
Haymon said she might not be able to attend the events due to time conflicts but said some of her friends were planning on going.
Jordan Kreindler, a sophomore in the College of Fine Arts, said she appreciates and thinks it was needed for the University to arrange something for the Class of 2024 to help connect.
“I’m a little bit skeptical just because it’s really easy to make something sound really great on text, but I’m excited to meet people in our class because we haven’t really gotten to meet yet,” she said.
Kreindler said she plans to attend the Night at the Museum event unless she has “a ton of homework.”
“I definitely will go to the Sunday night science museum thing because I think that sounds really cool,” she said.
CAS sophomore Ashley Nifah said while she is happy the University is doing something for sophomores, she is not sure how much else can be done to improve the Class of 2024’s experiences given the difficult pandemic year.
“Aside from reversing the year that we had,” she said, “I don’t really know if there’s anything they can do, to be honest.”
However, Nifah also said she is grateful for the University’s efforts and is looking forward to the skating party and museum night.
“I think it’s nice that they’re thinking of us,” Nifah added. “I appreciate that.”
