A Moment in Time: Dean College’s Holiday Lighting Celebrates Hope and Unity
- Miro McIntyre Clere
- 15 minutes ago
- 4 min read
In the cold December air, Dean students, faculty, staff, and Franklin residents gather on the Awpie Way quad. Choir voices fill the air as the community line up for hot cocoa, chatting with their neighbours. As darkness settles over the Dean College campus, the community is waiting for the holiday lighting to make the campus glow again.
The annual holiday lighting is a longstanding tradition at Dean College. As the community gathers each year, we are reminded of the importance of connection and friendship in the colder months of the year. The holiday lighting includes the large evergreen which serves as the campus Christmas tree, the Menorah, and the Kinara, bringing multiple cultural and religious traditions into one shared campus space.
Director of Student Activities and Leadership Development (SALD) Emma Mero highlights the importance of coming together, “Community is a word that’s hard to show, but the holiday lighting is one of the few times on campus where you really feel it,” Emma said. “Faculty, staff, students, and even people from town all come together to celebrate something simple, turning on lights, all together.”
The tree lighting is a tradition that dates back roughly 15 years at Dean College. Mero adds that the Menorah and Kinara lighting has been incorporated within the last five years following student feedback to make the lighting more inclusive.
The holiday lighting has evolved into a larger campus event, featuring hot chocolate catered by Dean Dining, performances by the choir, appearances from Boomer, a Loose Screws tap performance, and student speakers who reflect on the meaning of the celebration.
Among the student speakers was Elliott Steinberg, a member of the Jewish Community Club, who shared the significance of the Menorah and what Hanukkah means to him.
“Sharing the lighting of the Menorah with the campus community is incredibly meaningful because it allows me to share an important part of my identity,” Steinberg said. “It’s special to celebrate with people of all backgrounds.”
Steinberg resonates that across traditions, light symbolizes community. “Hanukkah is about resilience and hope,” Steinberg added. “It reminds us that even a small light can make a big difference.”
After Steinberg spoke, the spotlight turned to Angelica Proctor, president of the Black Student Union (BSU), who spoke about Kwanzaa, a seven-day cultural celebration rooted in African American history and community values. Proctor explained how to “celebrate Kwanzaa means to be closer and celebrate with family.”
Proctor said “As BSU celebrates this event, we hope everyone understands and respects traditions of different origins.” The Kwanzaa celebration highlight unity, self-determination,
collective work and responsibility, values that share connection and respect among the community.
The Dean College choir filled the chilly evening air with warm and resonant voices. For the evergreen lighting the chorus sang “O Evergreen,” which chorus conductor Timothy Ayres Kerr said reminded him “If the tree can stay green through the dark and cold, then so can we.”
For the lighting of the menorah the chorus sang a traditional arrangement of the Hanukkah candle blessing, as “a song that nearly every Jewish person recognizes and sings at home,” Ayres-Kerr added.
The chorus sang the Kwanzaa Harambe chant, which Ayres-Kerr added that “‘Harambe’ means ‘let’s pull together,’ and that message fits the spirit of the entire event.”
As the chorus filled the air with song, the music highlighted the beauty and diversity of each celebration while uniting the audience in shared experience.
Ayres-Kerr reflected, “Winter is a hard time for people. By standing in the cold and singing together, I hope everyone felt a deeper sense of humanity and connection.”
The community gathered around as Student Government President Paige Langston and Dean College President Kulesza began the countdown for the lighting. As the holiday traditions were lit, the towering evergreen, and the glowing Menorah and Kinara, the quad glowed with light as the crowd erupted into cheers. It was a celebration of hope amid winter darkness, a reminder to the Dean community of the strength found in coming together.
An extensive of the lighting ceremony was the Bright Lights initiative introduced last year. Created by Program Coordinator of SALD, Raina Ittner, the Bright Lights is an initiative to celebrate a student, staff, or faculty member who has had a positive, bright impact on the Dean College campus community. Over 70 students and 70 faculty and staff were nominated by community members this year.
“People don’t always tell each other how much they matter,” Emma Mero said. “This gives our community a chance to recognize the people who brighten campus in ways they may not even realize.”
After the holiday lighting, the Bright Lights nominees were celebrated at the after-party, each receiving a beanie and a note sharing the thoughtful words their nominator had written.
The holiday lighting has cemented a tradition of inclusion and visibility at Dean College, bringing together students, faculty, staff, and Franklin community members. A moment in time where the community comes together to honor diverse cultures and traditions yet also celebrate the values they have in common. Each lighting serves as a reminder to the community to look towards the light in the winter season and find hope and connection in one another.
