Pictured above: Mount Holyoke’s Mountain Day from 2019. Photo by Ali Meizels ‘23
By Mimi Huckins ’21
Features Editor
As Mount Holyoke traditions began to stray far from traditional, the suspicion of a reimagined remote Mountain Day arised. On Sept. 30, an “MHC This Week” update email was sent to students with a memo about Mountain Day 2020. Within the Mount Holyoke community, students had already begun making their own plans, creating Facebook events and listing their Mountain Day ideas in shared Google Sheets. Now, students are also able to share an official Mount Holyoke Mountain Day virtually with other students.
Jane Kvederas ’22 is the chair of senate for the College’s Student Government Association and is now part of the Student Experience Emergency Response Team. As soon as there were whispers of making Mountain Day happen, Kvederas knew she had to be involved. Like many students, for Kvederas, Mountain Day is an important part of the Mount Holyoke College experience. “I volunteered because I just really wanted to be involved in it as much as possible and put in my input,” Kvederas said.
Although this Mountain Day will be unlike any other, there are many ways Mount Holyoke is trying to get students engaged. On the College’s website, there is a Mountain Day submission form in which students can share Mountain Day photos and experiences. The Mountain Day 2020 page encourages students to eat ice cream, sport MHC apparel, make Mountain Day decorations, listen to ringing bells, take a hike, watch a hiking documentary and share photos.
“We’re trying to make it work. We’re trying to make it as interactive and as engaging as possible with the remote setting,” Kvederas said. Kvederas also shared that the effort to make the day as interactive as possible may include “utilizing social media and maybe even uploading a video of someone actually doing a timelapse of going up the mountain.”
“We’re really just spitballing any idea we can about how to make sure that students actually want to participate even though it will be remote,” Kvederas added.
So when will Mountain Day happen? The classic secrecy of Mountain Day is an element that will be retained, but this year to a lesser extent. In the Sept. 30 announcement, the College confirmed that Mountain Day would fall on one of the days in the intermission between Mod 1 and Mod 2, but did not specify an exact day.
Kvederas hopes that the surprise is not the only aspect of Mountain Day that is kept the same. “There have been ideas going back and forth [about] whether or not we should get someone to actually chime the bells and put that up on the internet,” Kvederas said. “Everybody looks forward to that, and I know there are some people that, on days when Mountain Day might occur, get up … at 7 a.m. and wait to hear them chime. I've been one of those people.”
Although not everything is set in stone, Kvederas offered a sneak peek at some Mountain Day festivities that may be taking place. “There are going to be engaging podcasts, sort of like trackers or something like that, that try to get individual groups of people or students to go and get out in nature themselves. So, go on a hike and log it on social media and things like that,” Kvederas said. Other loved aspects of Mountain Day may also make an appearance, such as temporary tattoos, which are designed by a Mount Holyoke alum.
“They actually got in touch [with us] and are working on the possibility of that being uploaded on social media as a filter or something like that so that the tattoos will still be a part of Mountain Day,” Kvederas said.
Students are already making individual plans for Mountain Day as well. Alex Fuselier ’22, although not on campus, is living in South Hadley this semester. “I plan to hike Mt. Holyoke or maybe a different nearby mountain,” Fuselier said.
Rachel Aguirre ’22 has found herself in a similar situation, having recently moved to an apartment near campus, and is planning to hike Mt. Holyoke as well. “Maybe we will climb to the top and do a bit of painting at the overlook,” she said. “I have a lot of friends in the area so I will hopefully meet up with them and hike the mountain and enjoy the day off,” Aguirre added. “If I was still back home, I would have probably gone to the beach or FaceTimed my friends from campus.”
This is exactly what Kvederas hopes students will do. “It might not be all of us climbing the mountain together, but there will be avenues for students to, individually or in small groups, whatever they’re able to do, … get in touch with nature,” Kvederas said. “One of the vital, one of the key elements of Mountain Day, is you’re not in a classroom, you’re actually out and breathing fresh air and seeing green stuff.”
Mount Holyoke traditions such as Mountain Day are an essential part of the Mount Holyoke College experience for many students. As in-person events are currently impossible, upholding traditions by reinventing them has seemed to generate a positive response.
“I think it's very important to uphold traditions or at least do our best to feel as close to campus as possible,” Aguirre said. “Although this is our new normal, following these traditions like Mountain Day, while during the pandemic, can help us feel like things are a bit more normal. Mountain Day is a really great tradition that Mount Holyoke College has and I love that it motivates students to go out, be active and experience the nature that we have so close to us.”
Fuselier shared this sentiment. “I really feel that traditions can be pretty grounding in times like this,” Fuselier said. “It’s these shared ideas and shared excitement that really brings MoHo together, and I feel like that’s not something that can really be taken away by time differences and changes of scenery.”
“We all still hold that love and excitement of MoHo and its traditions close to our hearts because in these times, we don’t always have something else to hold on to that brings so much warmth and unity,” Fuselier added.
As for the few students who are on campus, a Mount Holyoke Mountain Day experience will also be provided, with wellness and nature-oriented activities. “We’re trying to balance social distancing and all the requirements that need to be fulfilled,” Kvederas said. “I think the majority of it is going to take place on the green and then, I believe, we tossed around the idea of yoga or hula hooping or something like that, something really mindless and physically oriented that would just be really chill and fun.”
But there are still students all over the world who aren’t on campus or in the Pioneer Valley who deserve the Mountain Day experience. Aguirre noted that, although she has the privilege of being able to hike Mt. Holyoke for Mountain Day, many students will not. She believes it is important to celebrate no matter where students are geographically.
“It would be great for students to make Mountain Day their own adventure wherever they are while being COVID safe,” Aguirre said.
Kvederas hopes that the efforts going into planning Mountain Day will benefit all members of the Mount Holyoke community from all parts of the world. “It’s really unfortunate that we are not gonna be all climbing the mountain together,” Kvederas said. “We’re trying to create synchronous avenues for students to be a part of nature and also share that with the Mount Holyoke College community from wherever they might be in the world.”