FOUNTAIN DAY Fountain Day Welcomes New Spring Season By Amanda cGrath Hoya Staff Writer

Charles Nailen/The Hoya Students watch the fountain erupt during Fountain Day in Dahlgren Quad on Thursday.

Georgetown celebrated its third annual Fountain Day, heralding the coming of spring, on Thursday in Dahlgren Quadrangle. Complete with flowers, refreshments and the inauguration of GUSA President Kaydee Bridges (SFS ’03) and Vice President Mason Ayer (SFS ’03), the reactivation of the fountain signified the coming of a new season.

Musical selections from Georgetown’s Brass Quintet and a capella groups including the Phantoms, the Gracenotes and the Chimes interspersed the festivities.

“If you look up you see the explosion of blossoms,” University President John J. DeGioia said. “There is no more beautiful city on the face of the earth than Washington in spring time.”

Emceed by Junior Class Committee President Ted Bauer (COL ’03), the event opened with an invocation by Father Ryan aher, S.J. (CAS ’82). Outgoing GUSA President Ryan DuBose (COL ’02) and Vice President Brian Walsh (COL ’02) administered the oath of office to Bridges and Ayer, who were both officially sworn in on the Georgetown One Book.

Event founder and Senior Class Committee President Aaron Polkey (COL ’02), delivered the traditional reading with an excerpt from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” saying it “speaks of new beginnings and it also speaks of moving on . it relates to spring.”

Polkey also paid tribute to outgoing Associate Dean of Students Bethany Marlowe, Provost Dorothy Brown and Director of Student Programs Mary Kay Schneider.

“The success or boasts that the Class of 2002 can claim could not have occurred if we did not have a hero in the Office of Student Programs supporting us and that was Mary Kay,” he said.

In recognition of her work, Schneider was made an honorary member of the Class of 2002 and presented with a signed diploma.

Polkey was then honored by DeGioia, who honored the Class of 2002 for helping to build community. Before officially activating the fountain with Schneider, he said that this marked the eventual closing of an academic year that will not be forgotten.

“Tragedy struck this year, but we at Georgetown will also remember the caring and compassion that blossomed on our campus like the flowers in this courtyard,” DeGioia said. “We learned that we can depend on each other, that we really are a community.”