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The institution opened up its 174th academic year under the college-wide theme “moment” with a forward-looking presidential address, picnic, and a milestone in women’s leadership.

This year the college celebrates the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Virginia Women’s Institute for Leadership, the nation’s only all-female corps of cadets. VWIL kicked off the celebration during the annual nULL Induction Parade on August 30. In addition to numerous other events throughout the year, the VWIL anniversary will be fêted with a ceremony and military ball in April.

Shortly after members of the Class of 2019 arrived on campus for Week of Welcome they separated into their First-Year Gateways for orientation and to connect with classmates with similar interests. At the opening picnic, the Gateway groups entertained with pep-rally performances.

In front of an audience of faculty and staff in Francis Auditorium, Mary Baldwin President Pamela Fox provided a glimpse of a busy year of preparation ahead, including necessary groundwork for Mary Baldwin’s quartoceptcentennial, rebranding, and name change to ���� in fall 2016. This year, the institution will also work toward its decennial SACS-COC reaffirmation process, begin the process of converting the enterprise technology system, and push toward the end of the Ever Ahead fundraising campaign.

Despite the hard work ahead, Fox reminded the group of the institution’s commitment to students.

“Academic endeavor is our focus for living our mission every day,” she said. “Surrounding and motivating all of our work is our pledge to our students to embolden them to become the architects of their lives. We strive to serve as models for them every day institutionally and as individuals: we are inventive, resilient, and ready to succeed.”

First-year “nULLS” are inducted on August 30. This year’s induction parade capped
off the 20th anniversary of the Virginia Women’s Institute for Leadership.

This year’s opening picnic combined the traditional student and faculty and staff gatherings in front of Hunt Dining Hall. Below, Spencer Citizens volunteer at VSDB.	First-year students’ spirit rally. Below, members of the Healthy Lifestyles Gateway gather at Gypsy Hill Park.