The Office of the Secretary-General (OSG), through the Central Student Council (CSC), announced today that the Thomasian Welcome Walk on Sept. 24th will be divided into two groups of freshmen.
OSG said that the average number of this year’s newcomers has reached 12, 000, thus making it hard to accommodate all of them in the Quadricentennial Pavilion or the Q-Pav, which houses only 5, 792 seats.
This will be the first time that the Q-Pav will be availed as the official venue for the Thomasian Welcome Walk mass.
The organizers claimed they could not hold the event on the Grandstand as they were also worried about the weather condition that may afflict the Welcome Walk on the 24th since it was postponed several times already due to the series of unremitting rains and floods.
CSC Secretary Kendra Duran said the OSG decided to divide the entire freshmen into two batches of 6, 000 students per session.
“They would like to assure that it won’t rain so they conducted two separate groups because the Q-Pav can’t accommodate every student,” she said. “At least if it would rain, they will just pass through the arch but the celebration will be at the Q-Pav just to secure the students.”
The ceremonial Freshmen Parade will also be of two batches. The morning batch will include the Faculty of Arts and Letters, College of Commerce and Business Administration, Faculty of Engineering, College of Music, College of Science, and College of Tourism and Hospitality Management. The afternoon batch will include the College of Accountancy, College of Architecture, Faculty of Civil Law, Ecclesiastical Faculties, College of Education, College of Fine Arts and Design, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, College of Nursing, Faculty of Pharmacy, College of Rehabilitation Sciences, Education High School, Graduate School, Institute of Physical Education and Athletics, and UST High School.
Duran added that the concert will be at Plaza Mayor right after the mass and it will be open to all.
All freshmen students will be excused from their classes on the day of the event and on Sept. 25th as well while the classes in the upper levels will still push through as scheduled except those with direct participation in the Welcome Walk.
Reporting by Jamille Domingo
Photo by Arch John Camps
