Convocation Starting Off the New School Year.

Christina Morgera

Last Thursday during Common Hour in the Hillwood Commons Lecture Hall, around 450 guests of students, staff, and faculty gathered for our yearly Convocation.

The interesting new twist this year was the fact that the whole convocation was streamed live this year for the first time on the internet, so even if you couldn’t attend, you were able to watch live over the computer. Playing on the side of the lecture hall was entertainment by our own, Long Island’s best college Pep band.

The Convocation started with a welcome and a short speech on the state of the campus, which was addressed by Provost Paul Forestell, who also hosted the event. Then University President, Dr. David Steinberg stated in his welcoming that, “This is a convocation; A welcoming. The definition of Convocation is: ‘A group of people convoked, especially the members of a college or university community who are assembled for a ceremony.’ The way we define ‘Convocation’ here at C.W. Post LIU is; a way of bringing classmates and professors together for a celebration of the new academic year.”

After all the welcomes, they premiered the new C.W. Post Promotional video and TV commercial on the big screen. Over this past summer, undergraduate and graduate students auditioned for the commercial and it was later filmed at a studio in Manhattan; the same studio in which Rachael Ray is filmed. Both videos surrounded by the idea of “I am looking for…” and proclaiming “We found it at C.W. Post!” After the premieres were shown, students sitting in the front row, who starred in the video, took a bow.

During the rest of Convocation, student leaders distributed T-Shirts into the crowd, along with hosting raffles, which prizes included C.W. Post sweatshirts and gift cards for iTunes and Barnes and Noble. The ever-populated Orientation Leaders also showed the audience their moves, while singing their extremely impressive and catchy, “2011 Post Chant,” which is made each year for Freshman Orientation.

Their was also a short video shown to honor, Mary Lai-Long Island University’s Vice President for Finance and Treasurer.  This video showed footage of Mary Lai on a timeline, and showed everything she has done for this school. It was a way to inspire new freshman as well as anyone who attended. Today, at 91 years old, Mary Lai continues to share her words of wisdom. She said in her video, “If you work hard and put your mind and soul into everything you do, you will be successful.”

The turnout for the 2011 C.W. Post Convocation was very impressive. It really showed our strives in bettering the school increasingly each year. Keep an eye out for our new C.W Post LIU Campus commercial, which will be shown on cable as well as non-cable channels very soon!