On Friday afternoon, the Saint Mary’s Student Activities Board (SAB) presented the first annual “The Sisterhood is BLUEtiful.” The event was filled with an assortment of blue snacks and decorating. Attendees engaged in decorating picture frames and took part in a blue-themed giveaway.
Morgan McGuire, a sophomore and a SAB traditional co-chair, said the board created this event in hopes that it would unite the community.
“We wanted to create a new tradition to add to Saint Mary’s culture, and we thought that celebrating one of our school colors — blue — would be a great way to do that,” McGuire said.
Blue is not just a color, McGuire explained.
“Blue is a symbol of all of us meshing together — our cultures meshing together into one,” she added. “At the end of the day we celebrate each other for our differences. Our hope was that students would come together just to recognize how special Saint Mary’s is and that we do truly have a sisterhood that is really unique compared to other colleges, and just celebrate how we’re all here for each other throughout college and throughout life.”
Maureen Galvin, a SAB traditional co-chair, said the board organized the event to bring students closer as sisters in blue.
“The color blue represents our solidarity in each other. We’re united in the color blue,” Galvin said. “Our blue color is ingrained into our school, and I think we should be really advocating our blue colors and not switching the colors and repping also over at Notre Dame — not being afraid to wear your Saint Mary’s colors and really showing how strong of a blue community we are.”
Maddie Rader, a sophomore and traditional committee member, said the board hoped to have a good turnout of students with spirit.
“We can continue to represent the color blue by wearing it, displaying it on our website and rooting it more on social media,” Rader said.
After a recent marketing campaign, new colors of green and yellow were added to the school’s website and to the Shaheen Bookstore. Many students attended the blue-advocacy event as a way to continue celebrating and displaying the color blue.
Phoenix McClellan, a junior at the College, said that she thinks the color blue is a huge part of the College’s identity.
“I feel like at this point everyone is super defensive of the blue and obviously with them trying to change the colors, we all saw how everyone got up in arms about it,” McClennan said. “I always associated blue with calmness and happiness, and I think it’s for our College identity.”
Freshman Maria Brasil said she felt like the green represented Notre Dame and that the Saint Mary’s community is represented by the color blue.
“First they were trying to challenge the color scheme and the French cross — which was also represented by the color blue — which is our College’s theme,” Brasil said. “Blue is a beautiful color, and it totally matches the girlhood vibe here. It fits us completely.”
Brasil said blue will always represent Saint Mary’s and be a part of its identity.
“We can keep representing the color blue by wearing our gear around, and we shouldn’t be scared and hide where we are from,” she said. “They should know that we are from Saint Mary’s.”
