Freshman hats, dress-out themes, ice cream trucks, and dance parties—it’s that time of year again: welcome back St. Joe! Welcome Week 2024 was filled with fun events that got the students excited for this upcoming school year, especially the class of 2028.
This year, the freshmen were welcomed to St. Joe with a one-of-a-kind theme: Top Gun. The army-green baseball caps were everywhere around campus; whether it was Neon Day or St. Joe Day, the freshmen were rocking their new hats. STUCO President, senior Nora Buhr, loves Welcome Week and was excited to see her and her team’s hard work come to life.
“I love everything about Welcome Week. I love the tradition of the freshman hats, and I also love how old the tradition is. I loved seeing all the freshmen rocking their hats and their outfits throughout the week. I think it is a great way to welcome all the freshmen into SJA with how welcoming our community is. It shows them a little sneak peek into how much fun they will have at St. Joe the rest of their four years,” Nora said.
Welcome Week 2024 was kicked off with a red, white, and blue dress-out, the theme reveal during community time, and the first day of finding Tom Cruise around the school. It looked like the 4th of July in St. Joe while everyone was getting settled into their classes and preparing for an amazing Welcome Week ahead. On Tuesday, students were decked out in military-themed clothes and danced all through lunch before cooling off with a sweet treat from the ice cream truck. The next day, the fun kept coming as students came to school in neon outfits and sang karaoke with their friends. The outdoor theater was packed with singing, dancing, and laughing students throughout the fun-filled lunch. On Thursday, students got excited for the next day as they wore their Joechella and Welcome Week shirts to school and made friendship bracelets during lunch. Finally, on Friday, everyone was decked out in green and white for St. Joe Day.
Although a lot of Welcome Week has to do with welcoming the brand new freshmen, the upperclassmen were dancing, cheering, and laughing their way through the week alongside the newest members of St. Joe. Freshman Maren Barry enjoyed Welcome Week and loved how inclusive the older students were.
“I absolutely loved how involved the upperclassmen were in the whole week! It made the week so much fun and made me so excited for the next 4 years!” Maren said.
The whole week, the upperclassmen sang, danced, cheered, and participated in every activity possible to ensure maximum fun for themselves, their friends, and the freshmen. From the kick-off to the last cheer, Welcome Week was filled with joy and excitement. It truly provided the most welcoming atmosphere for the freshmen and all of the other students coming back to school, making everyone more excited than ever for what this year has in store. Welcome Week 2024 sure was a blast, and St. Joe can’t wait to do it again next year!
