What is the tradition of MSMC?
Mount Saint Mary College is a college located in Newburgh, NY. Affiliated with Catholic and Dominican traditions of “academic rigor, pursuit of truth, social justice, leadership and service.” The mission as reflected by the motto “Doce Me Veritatem” which means teach me the truth in Latin, shows the worth of every individual.
Having learned our mission, what makes spirit week so enjoyable for our students? Throughout the week we have several different opportunities to get involved, both spiritually and just to have some fun. Here are four reasons why everyone loves spirit week at the Mount:
1. Spirit week
Throughout the week, each grade gets to participate in what we call a Coin War thanks to our awesome Campus Ministry staff. What you do is fill other grades jars up with as many coins of higher value you can and put as many pennies you can in your grade's jar. Then they are counted and the year with the most pennies wins coin wars, and the best part is that all the money goes to the Thanksgiving food drive. Everyone loves a little friendly competition while raising money for a great cause. We also get points for our grade by wearing different themes and colors according to the days of the week.
2. Mount Olympics
A healthy competitive atmosphere that starts getting competitive right before you even get in the door. Mount Olympics is definitely something most colleges don’t always have. Coming from a high school that had a spirit week and night, I honestly didn’t know what it would be like. But even though it’s a little different, it is just as, even maybe more, competitive. Every grade comes prepared with their own skit/dance according to a theme they came up with. This year we had Alice in Wonderland for the class of 2017, Disney for the class of 2018, Christmas for the class of 2019, and lastly Hawaii for the class of 2020. I look at the skits as a way to get your class super excited for the competition ahead, and boy did every year do a great job this year. Next we have competitions between the different classes with tug war, canjam, egg toss, leap frog, crab walk, swim race, and so much more. You would not believe how competitive this event gets.
“This semester I got to work with some of the most amazing people that I have ever met. Mount Oympics is a competitive “battle of the classes” for MSMC. The sophomore class was very strong competitors in every category this year. The skit was so much fun to plan and perform. I know we all had a blast in taking part of such an awesome event. The other classes better watch outbecause we are determined to come out victorious next year!” - Mikayla Zaccaria (Sophomore Class President 2016)
3. Powder Puff
Next we have the powder puff games, which also gets very intense. The faculty always have to remind us that it is a friendly competition and to go easy on each other. Even though I admire the thought, I don’t think that playing a game like this would ever be able to avoid at least one injury. But I can genuinely say that after playing powder puff for the first time two years in a row I have learned a lot. And it helps when you can feel good knowing you were a part of the winning team (shout out to the Class of 2019 for winning this year). For me, winning isn’t everything. I have been a part of enough teams to know that if you don’t play like a team you are not going to win. “There is no I in team.” Our team this year played like a team. We were all a part of the win and that’s what made it so enjoyable for me to be a part.
“Coaching powder puff was an amazing experience. Every practice and game was so much fun. The girls on the team listened to what the coaches had to say and it seemed like they had a lot of fun because that’s what it’s all about. I know I had fun. My favorite moment of coaching was winning the tournament because it was exciting to see how much the girls cared about winning and when they finally did win, to see how happy they were was really, really awesome.” - Joe Ryan (One of Powderpuff Coaches for the Class of 2019)
4. Bonfire
We did (didn’t) start the fire, and some of us even helped build it…
Bonfire has allowed us all to come out as a community and enjoy some hot chocolate, good music, dancing and of course a huge bonfire you probably couldn’t miss from an airplane. Not many schools have this event, so I think that this is something so unique and special to our school. It definitely is one of my favorite events here on campus. Our school emphasizes the idea of a unified community, and I believe that this event allows for a perfect example of how we are living out that mission. This year the shirts said “We are all embers of the same flame” with the different grades. I am happy I joined not only just a school but a community of people that care for one another no matter what. Go knights!
