This past Tuesday, Seton Hall hosted their 16th annual tree lighting ceremony. The ceremony included free hot cocoa, candy, an hour of performances from different organizations, the signature blue Santa hat, and the official lighting of the 60-foot-tall Christmas tree.
Winston Roberts, the assistant vice president of Student Services and dean of Student Engagement, hosted the event again this year alongside Richard Picone, a senior psychology major and director of the Student Activities Board (SAB). Dean Roberts remains at the core of the celebrations as he has hosted every tree lighting since the first in 2009.
Co-host Picone emphasized the event’s core message of community.
“Make sure to spend time with your family, friends, and at Seton Hall, we are a family,” Picone said. “Give back to the community and remember that Christmas is really about spending time with loved ones.”
Other SAB members continued to emphasize this message, like Nyla Dixon, a junior psychology major and campus life coordinator for SAB.
“This year is more about community and I feel like last year was more about the aesthetics of everything and I feel like this year they’re focusing more on the community,” Dixon said.
An attendee of the event, Sarah Rosario, a sophomore biology major, said she’s not that big on Christmas, but she “really enjoy[s] doing Christmas at the hall because it gives [her] a chance to celebrate with [her] friends whom [she] loves so much.”
Another student, Emily January, a senior psychology major, spoke on how welcoming the tree lighting has been for her every year.
“It’s always been really inviting and welcoming,” January said. “It’s out there, but it’s really welcoming to everybody and any sort of ideas and it’s fun and lighthearted.”
The lighting included performances from SHU’s theatre council, Unidos Bailamos, the K-pop Club, Lambda Sigma Upsilon, the pep band, and the Sapphires.
Dixon explained that these performances function as a showcase for all the organizations on campus.
“I love that there’s a glimpse of each organization on campus [during the tree lighting],” Dixon said.
Students showed excitement for these performances.
“I’m excited for the sapphires; they're basically the Rockettes,” Grace Robinson, a freshman nursing major, said.
Christopher Sluck, a sophomore nursing major, also enjoyed fellow students’ performances.
“My favorite part is all the performances by our talented students here,” Sluck said.
Other students, like January, saw the potential in the performances and felt that more students should participate.
“[There should be] longer performances,” January said. “There’s more clubs on campus, more different and diverse performances.”
Kelly Bossert, a sophomore biology major and member of SAB, explained how different organizations can perform at the lighting.
“An email goes out to everyone [around November] that may be interested in [performing] and they can upload a video of what their performance entails. It’s like a five minute video,” Bossert said. “From there, Rich, Dean Roberts, and then Allison and Alyssa, who are the directors of SAB, go through and see the content of the performances and how it relates to the event, and if they get through those processes then they get to perform.”
Other students were more excited about the tree lighting itself, like Nancy Darwich, a sophomore nursing major.
“My favorite part is watching the tree light up the faces of the people in the crowd,” Darwich said.
No matter what a student’s favorite part of the tree lighting is, Fr. Colin Kay, the vice president for Mission and Ministry, brings all the students together by calling everyone to “be the tree,” further underscoring the theme of community.
“There are still dark places, dark places in need of light. Dark places where this tree can’t be…This tree, it’s got no feet to go, so you and me need to be the tree,” Fr. Kay said.
In case you missed the event or can’t make it next year, SHU livestreams it every year and it can be found on the official website.
Kaitlyn Campeau is a writer for The Setonian’s Features section. She can be reached at kaitlyn.campeau@student.shu.edu.
