In a tradition that stretches back to 1916, Penn juniors celebrated Hey Day 2010 by donning red shirts, strutting along Locust Walk carrying canes and biting into straw hats.

Hey Day marks the “moving up” of juniors to the senior class. This year’s celebration began with a class picnic, which was followed by the boisterous class procession.

Hey Day is a student tradition unique to Penn. In 1931, Class Day activities were folded into Hey Day, including the reading of the Class History, Class Prophecy and Class Poem; the presentation of the Senior Honors Awards; and the announcement of those elected into various honorary societies. In the decades since, however, Hey Day has become much less formal and far more spirited.

Following tradition, Penn President Amy Gutmann met the students at College Hall, where she said to the crowd of juniors, “By the authority vested in me by the Board of Trustees, I now declare you, Seniors.”