The real world is slowly encroaching for seniors as they met with the Alumni Association this past week for the Senior Social. The social was held on Nov. 7 and members of the senior class were able to meet with their peers and spend some time together before walking across the stage in May.

Students were able to enjoy food and prizes at the event while socializing with different alumni of Castleton. Frank Wan, the senior class president, was ecstatic about the first event for seniors and helping with the promotion.

“I’ve been sending out email for like a month and [the] Alumni Association and we maybe organized it for two months. Last year mostly they were alumni so there weren’t a lot of students. But this year we had a lot of students that were interested to getting social,” he said.

Students who attended the event shed light on being able to get together with other classmates and talk about how they’re feeling towards senior year. They were also able to discuss with alumni what it’s like to leave Castleton and continue on after their college career comes to a close.

Zach Gebo said he’s excited to graduate, and thankful that he attended the event because it gave him the opportunity to spend time with others in his class.

“It was pretty fun! I got to meet some alumni that graduated with a bachelor’s degree in health science and talked to them about what they do and like where they are now in life. I got to meet other people that I’m going to be graduating with that were in my major so that was nice; knowing who I would be walking across the stage with,” he said.

Abby Gray also enjoyed the event.

“It was really nice to see my classmates and see where they’ve gone the last four years. The food was really good, amazing prizes. As Izzy Gogarty would say, ’10 out of 10,’” she said.

Many students left the event with gifts including sweatshirts, coffee mugs and even cash! Auburn Sendra walked away with a Castleton tie and said she didn’t expect to enjoy the event as much as she did. But she has big plans making sure the prize she won is put to good use.

“I plan on giving it to Mr. Bill. He’s kind of like my life mentor, even though I’ve never had a class with him. You know, we’ve had this like really good connection ever since day one,” she said.

Overall, seniors felt as though the event offered something they could take away, whether it be a tangible takeaway or wise words of an alumni. Gebo mentioned that he would love to come back to Castleton for events to help out the Alumni Association.

“I’m close enough that I feel like I’d be willing to come down and help out at like homecoming. Hand out some t-shirts or bring like my class book, let people look and see what was going on and stuff like that. I think that’d be fun and good for younger students and other alumni,” he said.