Tree Lighting Opens the ODU Holiday Season
December 9, 2003
On December 2, 2003, Ohio Dominican University students, faculty, staff, and their families opened the holiday season by joining in the Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony.
Attendees proceeded around campus as a group to set the campus aglow with the brightness and joy of the season. The fun included bells, songs, readings and children ringing bells to "light" the trees.
In honor of the occasion, sophomore Gina Cosgrave wrote this poem:
Not Just a Glimmer of Gold
In this world of adversity it is hard to see the light. We search for the gold beams that save us from the confinements of daily disappointment. Looking for the shiny figuration that screams, “there is hope.”
Light is not just a glimmer of gold, however, it is a rainbow of colors. It’s bold, beautiful rays beam upon our faces. It transforms us and erases the pale, bare, vacant affect that our uncertainties have decorated upon us.
The light is a lampshade from the sadness, an umbrella for our tears. It holds our tiny hearts from enduring more pain and affliction.
This mass of color brings us together. As we unite, we are calmed by it’s warmth. We are given an opportunity to explore its meaning and truth. As we each find our own definition we have new understanding and appreciation. And as it sheds new life into our dark world we are reminded to follow the light. It is the solace in our journey.
|
William Campbell performs a Reading.
|
A million lights illuminate the tree behind Sansbury Hall. |
Students Emily Witter (left) and Jessica Conley (right) perform readings.
 |
Children looking forward to ringing "on" the lights.
The Madden Family enjoy a snack in Hamilton Hall after the ceremony.
|
The ODU Christmas Tree is lit on the
steps of Erskine Hall.
|
The campus community gathers in Hamilton Hall after the ceremony for some holiday cheer and refreshments. |
