As the sun was setting behind the Le Mans bell tower Wednesday evening, students gathered for the third annual Smick Day hosted by Saint Mary’s Student Government Association (SGA) and organized by the Student Life committee.
Josie Haas, student body vice president, explained the history behind Smick Day.
“‘Smick’ was used as a derogatory term, and for that reason Saint Mary’s wanted to reclaim and take it back as an empowering term, rather than something that puts our Saint Mary’s students down,” Haas said.
Now, each year, students from across the tri-campus community are invited to join Saint Mary’s in celebrating Smicks. Buttons that said “proud Smick” and “Smick ally,” along with free Saint Mary’s shirts were being passed out. SGA provided Raising Cane’s chicken, a bounce house, bracelet-making stations and a blank canvas for students to leave blue handprints on.
This event is part of Support a Belle, Love a Belle week. A week full of various events and activities put on by SGA to celebrate being a Saint Mary's student.
Different Saint Mary’s clubs had the opportunity to promote themselves at this event. Campus Ministry, Student Diversity Board (SDB) and Residence Hall Association (RHA) had tables set up on Le Mans green where they handed out shirts, stickers, and various crafts for students to take part in. The Saint Mary’s Cheer Club came and performed a few cheers in front of the crowd of students, encouraging them to “rock with the white and roll with the blue”.
Representatives from the new sustainable farm had a table and brought five of their chickens to take part in the celebration. Students were allowed to pet and hold the chickens who are recent additions to the campus.
Being a smick can mean something a little different to everyone.
Shay Schneider, SMC alumna and associate dean of students, gave insight on what “Smick” means to her.
“It’s a nice, fun, succinct way to say who we are and be proud of that,” Schneider said. “We gave that word a lot of power and we gave other people power over that word, but when we were able to reclaim it, it gave us the power to really make it who we are.”
Ramona Monroe, a junior in attendance, also shared her opinion on what being a Smick means.
“Smick means to me embracing my education along with people who have the same goals that I do and finding a sense of community or sisterhood along the way,” she said.
Another student in attendance, Laura Golubski, used one word to describe Smick: “Sisterhood.”
“It’s just great knowing that I have people that are going to back me up in life with everything that I do,” she said.
Student body president Angela Martinez Camacho gave her idea of what being a Smick is saying, “I can add my own identities to the word ‘Smick’. I am a Latina Smick, I am a POC Smick, I am a Texan Smick. There’s just a way that you can make it unique to yourself but still be a part of the SMC community.”
Contact Cathy Doherty at cdoherty01@saintmarys.edu.
