Founders Celebration Wraps up Week-Long Events

By: Cadence Russell

The past week of Founders Celebration just took place, where for a whole week of spirit days, the Campus Activities Team held events and traditions. From Superhero Movie Night to the 78 West Coffee giveaway, students and faculty took part in celebrating Daemen.

The 2021 Founders Celebration schedule of events. Not only were there events held on campus, but each day held a theme, leading up to Friday being “Daemen Day.” Graphic courtesy of Student Activities.

“Historically it’s always been kind of just like a weekend type thing, but this year we decided to kind of go all out and really make it a full week,” Michael Paglicci, the Assistant Director of Student Activities said.

“This year was kind of a combination of Founders Celebration, homecoming, and family weekend, and then alumni weekend,” Paglicci said. “We kind of took all of those celebrations and put them into one big week of just kind of celebrating Daemen, what we are, where we started, where we’re going in our future.”

Some of those events consisted of first-time functions like Daemen’s Got Talent. Held on Tuesday, Sept. 28 in Wick’s Social Room, Daemen students could sign up to perform their talents, with cash prizes.

“It felt great,” said Tess Morlock, a freshman pre-med major who won first place, “I was just really excited. I didn’t expect to win.”

By winning first place, Morlock was awarded $200, with second place at $100 and third place at $50. Morlock was a walk-on, along with third-place Julie Zampatori, a freshman PA major.

“It wasn’t super crowded, and I was like, I could do that – go up and just do piano,” Zampatori said, “I was shaking because I haven’t practiced in months, but I guess it’s not that bad.”

Other events like Casino Night are long-held traditions of Founders Celebration.

“Casino Night is something that we throw every single year, it’s actually been done since I would say like 20 years ago,” Jameekia Blount, a junior psychology major said. “So basically we always do it on a Founders Celebration or homecoming weekend, which is what it used to be called.”

With all the events held during the celebration, students can pick and choose what they would like to go to and what fits their schedule best. Sophomore Haley Sanders, in the PA program, went to Casino Night with her friends.

“You know I’m playing to gamble a little bit, having some fun with some friends, drinking some water, trying to win, no debating if I actually know how to play, but it’s fun,” Sanders said.

Founders Celebration takes a lot of work, but in the end, it’s worth it, according to Paglicci. Planning starts nearly a year in advance, with ideas, supplies, and vendors just a few of the many things needed to get aligned before the celebration.

“It represents just where our college has been and where it’s going, and I think we just have a lot of really great momentum here at the college,” Paglicci said. “I think Founders is a great way for us to kind of celebrate that and show that we do a lot of really great stuff on campus within our community.”

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