Campus Philly wants students to fall in love with the city — and stay
CollegeFest, Campus Philly’s annual Welcome to Philly celebration, kicks off Saturday, Sept. 10 and runs through Sunday, Sept. 11.
2 years ago
A sign welcomes Rutgers University-Camden students back to campus on Sept. 8, 2022. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)
Rutgers University’s New Brunswick campus has one, as does the Newark location.
As of Thursday afternoon, Rutgers University Camden will join them in hosting a convocation to kick off the new academic year. It’s a new tradition that’s being started by Chancellor Antonio Tillis, who took the helm of the school last year.
“Convocation is a way for the community to come together to kick off the beginning of a new academic year,” he said. “It’s a way of bringing faculty, staff, returning students, new students together in this joyous occasion in order to start … the new academic year.”
When he learned that Rutgers-Camden didn’t have anything like the convocation, he asked, “why not?”
“It’s a time to showcase our amazing students, our amazing faculty and staff,” he added.
Among the students who were featured during the event, the university’s gospel choir and the AKA step and stroll team. The house band, featuring students, was led by JoJo Streater, a music lecturer. The band played “Celebration” at the request of Tillis before he began his remarks to set the theme.
His remarks to students during the program centered on the Chinese proverb, “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
“Whether you’ve traveled to Rutgers-Camden from near or far, you have all taken the first step of that journey,” he said. “During this academic year and beyond, you will travel a thousand miles intellectually, socially towards opportunities to make an impact in the world.”
Tillis, overall, said he wanted to impart two messages to the audience, “welcome home” and “that Rutgers-Camden is theirs.”
The audience also heard from Jochebed Peace Airede, an international student from Nigeria who shared her experience of when she first came to the campus in August 2021 and how Rutgers-Camden “has indeed been my oyster.”
“I was in a strange land where everyone over pronounced their R’s, where everyone said tank tops instead of camisoles, and where people played soccer instead of football,” she said. “I will always remember that Rutgers-Camden had given me a chance when few other universities had.”
After the speeches, the Sixers Stixers drumline, led everyone to the courtyard, where there were tables, food and a DJ spinning the tunes.