Wild Wesleyan Welcome Back

Wesleyan's Wild Welcome Back weekend was all about folding students into the community. The Student Government Association, Leadership Council and Wesleyan staff teamed up to provide a weekend of fun for new and returning students.

On Sept. 3, Wesleyan hosted four local bands that rocked long into the night during the annual Lake Taylor Music Fest. The stage set-up began early Friday afternoon. Craft-Work Sound Inc. was hired to build the stage and set the volumes of speaker, sound, and lighting equipment before the show. There were four large turbo-sound subs on each side of the stage. By 6:30 p.m., you could hear the 16,000 watts of heart-pumping music from every corner of the campus.

The line-up began with Zion Wave. They played a set of reggae music with original songs and covered some classics. Zion Wave has played at Wesleyan before and has gained popularity among students.

"This is my third time seeing them at Lake Taylor," said senior Jessica Okleshen. "Their music is a change of pace from what I usually listen to. That's why I like them so much."


Staff from the physical plant and Boyd Dining Hall were also present. The maintenance staff was busy making last-minute preparations right up until the opening song. Barriers were set up around the Beer Garden to ensure that the only students who had access to Bud Lights for a buck were the right age. For students who weren't quite 21, there was plenty of food.

"We wanted the new students to come out and make a connection and meet new friends that first weekend," said Kristen Whalen, assistant dean of students for student activities.

Snackbar Jones, Seed Is and Chasing Rhinos all had their turn at center-stage. Each band brought its own style of music to the event, and students were pleased to see the variety of music played.

"I liked how some bands played their own stuff and some covered mainstream songs," said sophomore Alem Elias.

Elias was referring to Chasing Rhinos. They played what lead singer Bobby Cullipher called "adult contemporary rock."

"Our music goes across the board," said Cullipher. "We'll play everything from Dave Matthew's Band to the rap/rock of 311. This was the first time we played at Wesleyan, so we wanted to bring a little bit of everything to the show."

Chasing Rhinos has been together nine months and will be playing at the 7th Street stage at the Oceanfront on Sept. 24.

The Lake Taylor concert cost $13,000 to cover everything from the bands and stage to the food and drinks. Unfortunately, the actual student turnout could have been better.

It was decided at the eleventh hour to have the concert the first Friday back to school. The planners from SGA and Leadership Council put together the logistics of the Lake Taylor in short order. It was debatable whether or not it was a good idea to have the concert so soon.

"Some of us felt that the freshman class wouldn't attend because they had spent their last weekend at Camp Silver Beach," said Whalen. "We had never done it this way before, and we didn't know how it would run."

At the beginning of the concert, the majority of the students in the audience were freshmen. But after a few hours, the food was gone and so were the freshmen. The venue was set up with the Beer Garden directly in front of the stage. This left the freshmen "sitting in the back of the bus" while a handful of 21-and-ups drank in front of the stage. As evening turned into night, there was no one left in back of the bus. The last half of the show was seen mostly through the beer-goggled eyes of upperclassmen.



"I thought we had a good crowd for our set," said Cullipher, lead singer for Chasing Rhinos. "Things could have been a little bit better if everything had been more open. Also, it's tough to play with a wall in front of the band. The sound would bounce back and cause a delay."

The planners had another problem, too. Normally when an event of this size is put on, it is supposed to be the sole event of the evening. But, the evening of Sept. 3 was also host to a women's volleyball tournament and the first Kappa Alpha party of the semester. Sometimes it is tough to compete for the attention of the student body at small college.

There was more stuff scheduled for students the rest of the weekend and the Labor Day Holiday. Director of Campus Recreation Cindy Smith reserved a bus to take students to the Norfolk Tides baseball game on Sept. 4. Tickets were $20, which covered transportation to and from the game plus transportation to the American Music Festival at the Oceanfront on Sept. 5. Thirty-two tickets were sold, but most students opted to take their own cars to see Sugar Ray and Collective Soul.

"We wanted students to be able to enjoy the local stuff and not have to fight the crowds," said Whalen.

On Sept. 6, Willie Harrell, Director of Fitness and Aquatics, set up a 100-foot long slip-n-slide in the Batten lawn.

If this is the first time you've heard about it, you missed a good time.

Bands: Zion Wave, Chasing Rhinos, Snackbar Jones, Seed Is