The Georgetown community welcomed spring and new student leadership at the second annual Fountain Day ceremony on Monday afternoon in Dahlgren Quadrangle.
University President Leo J. O’Donovan activated the Dahlgren fountain after speaking on the importance of traditions and the centrality of both the fountain and spirituality in the lives of those at Georgetown.
Terry Reynolds, a theology professor, said the Georgetown experience was a bridge between the past and the future, “a chance to look at yourself and who you are and who you will be.”
Following the fountain ceremony, the new Georgetown University Student Association president, Ryan DuBose (CAS ‘02) , and vice-president, Brian Walsh (CAS ‘02), were sworn into office. Both said individual involvement is necessary to establish a true campus community.
“My main message is that this school is ours,” DuBose said. DuBose said every individual must claim their place in Georgetown by maintaining a give and take relationship with the school.
“Once we claim ownership in our school, we finally belong,” DuBose said.
He said that one of the most important ways to claim this sense of ownership is by participating in established traditions while attempting to create new ones.
“Just as a little bit of Georgetown stays with us, Georgetown is also changed a little bit by every person,” DuBose said.
The simultaneous processes of continuing established traditions while creating new practices was vital to Georgetown’s successful evolution, according to DuBose.
Other students expressed enthusiasm about the opportunity to unite as a community and establish a new tradition which would exist long after they were gone.
“It was great seeing everyone coming together, not only to celebrate the coming of spring but also to celebrate Georgetown itself,” said Sanjeev Kumar (MSB ‘04), a first year GUSA representative.
