Draft:Yale College Class Day

Yale Class Day
Yale College Class Day is one of the most cherished traditions on the academic calendar where the graduating class gathers on Old Campus to reminisce about their time at Yale. When this tradition started in 19th century, the graduating class only numbered fewer than 100 students. Today, on the Sunday before University Commencement, Class Day is a lively ceremony of over 1,500 students that includes speeches with reflections, humor, and inspirations by members of the graduating class; the awarding of top academic, artistic, athletic and leadership prizes; the wearing of silly hats; and the waving of a white handkerchief while singing “Bright College Years.” The tradition of planting the Class Ivy began in 1852 near the wall of the Old Library, which is now Dwight Memorial Chapel. Students are also presented with a symbolic soap bubble pipe, in observation of the tradition that started in the 1860s when graduates would gather in a circle, smoke a single bowl of tobacco from a clay churchwarden pipe, and then trample the pipe to symbolize the end of the pleasures of college life.

A highlight of Class Day is also a notable speaker. Previous Class Day speakers have included Senators William Bradley, Paul Tsongas, and Cory Booker; journalists Bob Woodward, Tom Brokaw, Fareed Zakaria, Barbara Walters, and Anderson Cooper; authors Stephen Jay Gould, Carl Sagan, Christopher Buckley, Thomas Wolfe, and Chimamanda Adichie; Secretaries of State John Kerry and Hillary Rodham Clinton; actors Jodie Foster and Tom Hanks; 47th U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden; and 42nd U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Yale Class Day Prizes

 * The Warren Memorial High Scholarship Prize is "awarded to the graduating senior majoring in the humanities who ranks highest in scholarship." Originally, this prize was given to the highest ranking graduate earning a degree in the Bachelor of the Arts.
 * The Alpheus Henry Snow Prize is "for the senior who, through the combination of intellectual achievement, character, and personality, shall be adjudged by the faculty to have done most for Yale by inspiring classmates with an admiration for scholarship."
 * The Russell Henry Chittenden Prize is "awarded to the graduating senior in the natural sciences or in mathematics who ranks highest in scholarship." This award was originally given to the highest ranking graduate earning a degree in the Bachelor of the Sciences.
 * The Arthur Twining Hadley Prize is "awarded to the graduating senior majoring in the social sciences who ranks highest in scholarship."
 * The Louis Sudler Prize in the Performing and Creative Arts is awarded annually to "two graduating Seniors who, in the opinion of the Faculty, have demonstrated excellence or the highest standards of proficiency in performance or execution, and in the field of composition in one of the following general areas: architecture and design, creative writing, dance, film and video, music, theater, painting, sculpture, photography, and digital arts."
 * The James Andrew Haas Prize is awarded annually to "that member of the Senior Class in Yale College whose breadth of intellectual achievement, strength of character, and fundamental humanity shall be adjudged by the faculty to have provided leadership for his or her fellow students, inspiring in them a love of learning and concern for others."
 * The William Neely Mallory Prize is "awarded annually to the senior man who, on the field of play and in life at Yale, best represents the highest ideals of American sportsmanship and Yale tradition."
 * The Nellie Pratt Elliot Prize is "awarded annually to the senior woman whose excellence in the field of athletics and in her life at Yale best represents the ideals of sportsmanship and Yale tradition."
 * The Nakanishi Prize is "awarded to two graduating seniors who have provided exemplary leadership in enhancing race and/or ethnic relations at Yale College during their undergraduate career while maintaining high standards of academic achievement."