It’s a tradition like no other.
It’s a week to recognize the accomplishments of Radford University students and mark the milestones along their journey, whether it be first-year Highlanders or seniors who are a month away from walking across the Spring Commencement stage and receiving their hard-earned degrees.
It’s a pause for reflections and celebrations as students approach the final month of the academic year.
Traditions Week is like nothing else on campus.
Hosted each year by Radford’s Division of Student Affairs, the week began on Monday, April 7, with First Year Field Day for freshmen and students who are new to campus for 2024-25. Students enjoyed games, snacks, music, crafts, free prizes and the always popular dunking tank on the lawn in front of Muse Hall.
That same day, Radford University Carilion (RUC) held its annual Spring Renewal for students. It was a celebration of well-being on Reid Lawn of the RUC campus in Roanoke. Students were given the opportunity to relax with yoga, DIY sand gardens and a plant-your-own bamboo activity.
Radford sophomores celebrated the mid-point of their college careers with the Halfway There event on a chilly but sunny Tuesday by the campus fountain. Juniors got their turn to shine at Junior Twilight on Wednesday by inking inspirational messages onto glowing warm lanterns as the sun set over campus.
Thursday was for seniors. Soon-to-be graduates flocked to the main floor of Russell Hall not only to celebrate but also to pick up gifts, decorate their graduation caps, take photos with friends and the Highlander mascot as he made his rounds, write thank-you notes to friends and loved ones, and, like all the events of the week, enjoy free snacks.
“This is great,” said Laura Allen-Wood, a senior English major from Richmond, Virginia, who admitted to skipping her fiction writing class to attend the Thursday party. Allen-Wood said she had never attended a Traditions Week event during her time at Radford, “and this is the last time I’ll be able to go.”
While it was a moment of joy for those happy seniors, there also was the welcomed anxiety of graduation, which was only a month away.
“It’s super exciting, and I’m super nervous at the same time,” senior recreation, parks and tourism major Megan Cuscio said as she enjoyed one of the many free glazed doughnuts available. Cuscio, a first-generation college student from Richmond, Virginia, will walk at the Spring Commencement ceremony and then begin an internship at various summer camps for children in Frederick, Maryland. She’ll receive her degree in August.
Biology major Claudia Bosch of Bristow, Virginia, said she was excited to graduate, “but it’s a little scary going into the real world.”
Allen-Wood said she was a little nervous, too, but felt her “experiences here at Radford have prepared me for the next step, and I feel really confident that I can go out into the world and make something of myself.”
Her nervousness was “more excited nerves than anything,” she explained.
The night before, Lizzie Singleton and Jocelyn Harris sat along the concrete wall surrounding the red campus clocks, reflecting on the past academic year at Junior Twilight. Around them, scores of students talked, listened to music, and played cornhole. Others were busy writing their own personal messages on lanterns that were strung around the clocks, making for a charming scene under the emerging full moon in the evening twilight.
“When we first got here, it was still light outside; you couldn’t really see the vision, then the sun set, and everything started to lighten up,” said Singleton, a junior allied health sciences major from Chesapeake, Virginia. “I hope everyone takes time to walk around and read all the lanterns.”
On her lantern, Singleton inscribed her major and career goals. She wants to be a physician’s assistant.
And then she penned the words: Jocey-Poo for life.
“That’s me,” said Harris, sitting to the right of Singleton. “I’m Jocey-Poo.”
They both laughed.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better roommate, and we were a random situation,” Singleton said, explaining how the two became roommates. “And now, she’s one of my best friends.”
Harris, on her lantern, wrote the words “Yay” and “something about being a teacher,” the social sciences education major vaguely recalled. “And, then I wrote ‘I heart Lizzie.’”
Friends for life!
If you walked by the campus fountain on Wednesday afternoon, you would have seen a large group of students gathered, listening as the DJ counted down.
“Three-two-one,” he announced through the speakers, “Toss ’em!”
At that moment, several coins flipped through the air and splashed into the overflow water of the fountain. Carried with those coins were the hopes, dreams and aspirations of the dozens of Radford sophomores who gathered for the Halfway There celebration.
Each participating second-year student was given a challenge coin. Into it, they spoke their wisdom and wishes before flipping it into the water. Underneath sunny skies – and also large space heaters on the chilly afternoon – students found free T-shirts, food and a festive atmosphere as the DJ cranked popular tunes. At one point, students huddled under the heaters as Ed Sheeran fittingly sang “give me the shivers” over the speakers.
Some students tossed their coins in the fountain with friends, and others did it alone. Several waited for the group tossings, which happened about every 15 minutes.
“We wished for everything that we wanted to come true,” said political science and business management major Delaney Gutierrez, standing with her friend Britney Lainez. “We’re going to get an apartment. We’re going to get a job. We’re going to have a great semester.”
“We wished for the same things,” both said in unison, laughing as they walked away.
Kiersten Williams, a sophomore class senator, addressed the gathering early into the event, saying she was “beyond excited for what the next two years will bring.
“As we stand here, halfway through our college journey, it is the perfect time for all of us to take a step back and reflect on how far we’ve come,” Williams continued, “but it’s also the perfect time to think about where we want to go from here.”
Each student also had a chance to enter a drawing for a $4,000 Presidential Scholarship. This year’s winner is sophomore Emma Hogsten.
Traditions Week was created in the 2017-2018 academic year “as a way to mark the success of Highlander students and create a meaningful transition to the next step of their Radford journey,” said Associate Vice President for Student Life Tricia Smith. “Traditions Week 2025 was a terrific success. Although the weather moved two of our events indoors, we still saw record participation with 20.25% of the student body coming out to celebrate.”