Seniors give their last salute to IU

Graduating senior Peter Wallace said he realized at this year’s Senior Salute that his favorite memories at IU come from waiting in lines.

“If it’s waiting to get tickets at the games or to get into the bars, you’ll always meet new people,” he said. “Some of the most interesting people I’ve ever met have come from talking to people while waiting in line.”

Wallace was one of the 1,000 to 1,500 students who attended the 14th annual Senior Salute on Thursday in the DeVault Alumni Center. The event was organized by the Student Alumni Association.

Despite the unstable weather, complete with powerful wind gusts and alternations between sunshine and cloudy skies, hoards of students gathered to enjoy what SAA adviser Trish Surfus called the “the last hurrah before commencement.”

Inside the DeVault Alumni Center, students could listen to Indianapolis-based band Dave and Rae perform various cover songs and receive free giveaways from the different schools within IU.

IU coach Tom Crean congratulated the class of 2009 and introduced a cappella men’s chorus group, Straight No Chaser, who gave a rendition of the Indiana Fight Song. 

Provost Karen Hanson appeared with Student Alumni Association president and senior Lindsey Livingston to dedicate a symbolic tree in honor of 2009’s graduates.

Behind the Alumni Center, students played on kid-sized basketball courts, ate free pizza, chatted with friends and recalled their favorite IU memories.

Sophomore Kaity Wachtel, co-director of the event for the Student Alumni Association, sat by a stone fountain with no running water.

She said she and co-director sophomore Christine Bass tried to plan the event as though it were their own senior farewell.

“I just know when I’m a senior, I’m gonna cry through the whole thing,” Wachtel said.

Tourism management major Erin Smith sat by the fountain eating an ice cream cone. She said she will miss spending time with all her friends, but she is excited for the future.

“Of course, just like everyone, I’m trying to find a job,” Smith said. “If anyone would like to hire me, contact me.”

Telecommunications major Terra Kash said she will miss the college experience itself.
“Freshman year was the most fun,” she said. “I met so many great people, and I got to live in a box with another person for a year.”

Sport marketing and management major Ryan Elliott said she will always remember junior year of Little 500 because it was her first big event as a 21-year-old.

She said she is nervous for what’s to come because IU has provided a bubble for her.

“It was like a world inside a world,” Elliott said. “But at least here, you have all you needed.”

Wallace said IU gave him the big campus experience he wanted coming from Winchester, a small Indiana town.

Most of all, he said he would miss walking around Bloomington and taking in the scenery.

Human Development and Family Studies major Liz LeMay sat comfortably in a group of friends, eating a piece of pink cotton candy.

LeMay said she enjoyed the beauty of Bloomington and all the people she came across.

“I used to sleep by the rocks around the Jordan River between classes,” she said. “I’ll miss that, but I’ll miss being with friends even more. There is always something to do.”