Members of the Ithaca College community celebrated their differences while joining together as one by constructing a unity canopy during the First Bomber Weekend on Aug. 26.
Community members made the canopy by taking strands of yarn from a center pole and wrapping them around surrounding poles marked with identities with which they associate themselves, then bringing the yarn back to the center pole when they were finished.
Identities featured on the poles included “I identify as cisgender,” “I believe in a higher power,” and “I am the first person in my immediate family to attend a four-year college.”
The end result gave students the opportunity to see the many different perspectives of others on this campus.
“It’s definitely really cool to see other people doing the community canopy because you kind of gain a perspective on how many really diverse perspectives there are here,” said Carmen Vieytez ’18.
Resident director and event organizer Angela Kramer saw the idea on Facebook and thought it would be a good way for the campus to share unique identities.
“When we have a large group like our campus community come together and share their unique identities, that creates unity and we’re all part of that community,” said Kramer. “Physically all of the strings will be interwoven so that we’re all connected throughout these different identifiers.”
The canopy also allowed first-year students to see where their fellow community members come from.
“I just think it’s pretty cool that everybody comes from different backgrounds and I’m meeting a lot of different people here now,” said Morgan Shibel ’20.
First Bomber Weekend helps to introduce new students to the college and community. It is sponsored by the Office of Residential Life, Office of Recreational Sports, Office of Public Safety, Alumni Relations, and Students Today Alumni Tomorrow.