Secular Student Alliance's Graveyard of the Gods event, held April 3, was promoted on the campus rock beforehand. The event featured was a gastro celebration of the "lives" and "deaths" of gods of various cultures. (Photo by Patrick Smoker.)
Albion’s Spring 2019 semester was filled with events students and community members alike could attend. Student issues arose in the semester, too, a unity demonstration against racism being the most prominent.
In order to spread awareness of events, themed weeks and student empowerment, some student organizations turned toward Albion’s campus rock, located right on the college quad.
Winter weather and temperature tends to keep rock painting at a minimum, but the spring semester still saw XX variations of rock paintings, presented below in order of painting.
January and February 2019 were marked by one single rock painting: Kappa Alpha Theta’s promotional painting for formal recruitment. The sorority’s Greek letters speckle the rock. The rock itself is painted in Theta’s colors. (Photo by Patrick Smoker.)Kappa Delta’s Shamrock Talent Show on March 15 helped raised money for one of the sorority’s philanthropies, Prevent Child Abuse America. Senior Kent Davis was the winner of the inaugural event with his rap act. (Photo by Patrick Smoker.)Asian Awareness Group painted the rock in a patchwork of colors for its Holi event on March 20. Holi is a celebratory festival honoring spring originally from India known for its colorfulness. (Photo by Patrick Smoker.)Delta Gamma celebrates its Do Good Week, a week of philanthropy and volunteering. It culminated in Anchorsplash, where Greek life came together and performed synchronized swimming teams on March 23 to raise money for Service for Sight, a group helping vision-impaired Americans. (Photo by Patrick Smoker.)Secular Student Alliance’s Graveyard of the Gods event, held April 3, was promoted on the campus rock beforehand. The event featured was a gastro celebration of the “lives” and “deaths” of gods of various cultures. (Photo by Patrick Smoker.)Albion’s beloved a cappella group, Euphonics, decked the rock in gold in preparation for their Grammy-themed performances. The two-performance Euphonics at the Grammys ran on April 10 and featured a farewell to its student leader senior Anna Watson of Pontiac. (Photo by Patrick Smoker.)Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity painted the rock for their longstanding Jungle Party on April 12. (Photo by Patrick Smoker.)Albion’s annual Big Show featured 2000s pre-teen heartthrob Jesse McCartney and Indianapolis-based band Oferle. The Big Show was in unique in that it was held on the Quad rather than in the Dow Wellness and Recreation Center or Washington Gardner Middle School. (Photo by Patrick Smoker.)After students reported racist events to Campus Safety and Albion Public Safety on April 5, Albion students came together in a unity demonstration around the campus rock on April 11. Members of Umbrella, Black Student Alliance and Asian Awareness Group, which organized the event, painted the rock and its base. The hashtag at the base is meant to reflect the campuses community online. (Photo by Patrick Smoker.)The final rock painting before the end of classes was created by Albion’s Environmental Club in celebration of Earth Day. Each continent was drawn on the (super) semi-spherical rock. (Photo by Patrick Smoker.)
Patrick Smoker is a senior from Kalamazoo, Michigan. He is majoring in Geological Sciences with a minor in GIS. In addition to being a photographer for the Pleiad, He also plays tennis for the men’s tennis team.
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