Class of 2026 prepares for ‘iconic’ year during annual Hey Day

An ecstatic crowd of third-year students donning red T-shirts, bamboo canes, and mock skimmer hats electrified Penn’s campus on Thursday, May 1, to mark the University’s 109th Hey Day, a yearly tradition—dating back to 1916—that unifies Penn students across space and time. Clear blue skies and warm weather made for a lively mid-morning picnic at High Rise Field by Rodin College House, with hundreds of third-year students gathered to socialize, reconnect, and celebrate their collective transition to fourth-year rank.

As noon approached, the Class of 2026 marched in a grand procession down Locust Walk led by the Penn Band, crossing the Class of 1949 Bridge and parading under a tall balloon arch toward College Green. There, they were greeted first by Vice Provost for University Life Karu Kozuma and then by President J. Larry Jameson. Per tradition, Jameson lightheartedly tested the class with a three-question, pass-fail “exam,” with their correct responses ascending the students to fourth-year status.

“On behalf of the senior class right now, we wish you the best of luck next year,” said 2025 class president Amaan Omer, nodding to his fellow graduating class, which convened on the opposite site of College Green to celebrate the Final Toast. Omer then passed the symbolic fourth-year class gavel to Vedika Jawa, president of the 2026 cohort. “2026 seniors, can I hear you scream?” shouted Jawa to a crowd of her peers erupting with joyful cheer.

“What a special class, and what a special day. Time has flown by—and now, we have one more year,” continued Jawa. “This is our time to leave our legacy at Penn and make the most of every moment. Get ready, because our senior year is going to be iconic.”

As the Penn Band played “The Red and Blue,” some newly-minted fourth-years joined in song before posing for group photos and selfies and signing skimmer hats with Sharpies. 

Luiza Louback, an English major in the College of Arts and Sciences from Brazil, marked the occasion alongside her friend, James Vu, an English and sociology major in the College from New Jersey, and her partner, Richard Macedo, a computer science major in the School of Engineering and Applied Science also from Brazil.

“Hey Day, for me, is just a day to celebrate how far we’ve come,” said Louback, noting how special it felt to see her class reunited as one. “I also love the walk, seeing everybody walking together, all the juniors connecting.”

Vu, who befriended Louback through an English study abroad program in London, shared that Hey Day means “continuing tradition,” calling the annual event a “rite of passage.”

Macedo and Louback met during New Student Orientation on their first day of classes at Penn, bonding in part over their shared Brazilian nationality. Three years later, they would spend Hey Day together, commemorating their time at Penn as part of a broader tapestry of tradition.

“Hey Day really is a way for you to include yourself in the Penn community,” said Macedo. “Looking at the old pictures of people going through this same tradition is really fun, and you can really feel part of a big community—not even just the people that are here, [but also] the people that were here, and the people that are going to come here.”

For Seyoon Chun, a history major in the College from Queens, New York, focused on East Asian Studies, a highlight of Hey Day is third-year students linking with the graduating class on College Green. “As a history major, I love tradition,” he said.

“It’s like a cycle,” added Chun, describing the emotionally charged festivity as “a good checkpoint.”

Standing with Chun was Kimberly Marti, a communications major in the College from Philadelphia whose favorite aspect of Hey Day is that it physically unites her fellow classmates.

“We don’t have many events where all the juniors are together, so to be able to see each other interact, and then sign the hats, I think it’s really sweet,” said Marti.

Pranav Guhathakurta, a finance concentrator in the Wharton School from Princeton, New Jersey, was chatting with Lucas Richman, a student from New York who studies history and real estate in the College. Guhathakurta called Hey Day a “conversation starter,” enabling him to catch up with friends who he’s grown alongside for the past three years.

Richman shared how participating in Hey Day “shows that you’re really at Penn,” describing the custom as “part of the Penn experience.”

View large image

“It’s definitely an honor,” said Guhathakurta, adding in jest, “It makes me feel old as well.”

One trio—Malak Taha, from Egypt; Yaryna Uhera, from Ukraine; and Ali Saber, from Iraq—celebrated the Hey Day milestone to mark their studies in the natural sciences.

“I always liked watching the juniors go and celebrate it,” said Taha, a biology major in the College on a pre-medicine track. “I was just excited to come and have this experience.”

Taha and Yaryna met this semester by having two classes together, but quickly realized they’d shared many of the same courses together over the years without knowing each other yet. For them, Hey Day was a meaningful way to celebrate their newfound friendship.

“I like seeing my friends and coming together to celebrate the end of junior year,” said Uhera, who noted how approaching the end of college with Taha, Saber, and the rest of her peers feels bittersweet.

“I feel like this really does tie us back to the University,” said Saber, a chemistry and biochemistry student in the College, “and makes us have a feeling of belonging.”