![\"Colgate](\"http:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/02\/BicentennialGoldC-150x150.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
As maroon crowds swarmed into Hamilton, excited whispers mentioned the likes of Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Patti Smith and R&B legends Earth, Wind & Fire.<\/p>\n
The village doubled in population as alumni, parents, and friends fled back to campus for the University\u2019s three-day Bicentennial Kickoff Celebration starting Sept. 21. When combined with Family Weekend and homecoming, the festivities provided a continuous stream of special events.<\/p>\n
In addition to the celebratory moments, the schedule included a number of opportunities to reflect on Colgate\u2019s 200-year-long history. Jane Lagoudis Pinchin<\/a>, professor of English<\/a> emerita, and Professor of history<\/a> Jill Harsin<\/a> appeared with Provost and Dean of the Faculty Tracey Hucks \u201987<\/a>, MA\u201990 to discuss the impact of female students and faculty on Colgate, post-1970. At a Shabbat service and dinner, student co-authors spoke about writing Repression, Re-invention, & Rugelach: A History of Jews at Colgate<\/em>. On Saturday morning, Becoming Colgate<\/em> author Jim Smith \u201970, former Bicentennial Fellow Jason Petrulis, and Harsin discussed pivotal moments in the University\u2019s past. The following day, the University showed a preview of Path of Duty<\/em>, a new documentary that examines the lives of three African American alumni. Filmmakers Zeron Turlington and Nicole Watson joined Vaughn Carney \u201968 and Diane Ciccone \u201974, P\u201910, who inspired the work, to discuss their motivations in making the film. They cited a lack of representation of African American students in Colgate\u2019s 200-year story and their hopes to participate in offering a more complete history of Colgate moving forward.<\/p>\n From lectures to concerts, from fireworks to the homecoming tailgate, there was something for everyone.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a look at some of the moments and behind-the-scenes preparations that made the weekend.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s not every day you hear of an ingredients list including 570 eggs, 4 liters of red food coloring, and nearly 50 liters of milk, but that is exactly what alumni couple Britty (Buonocore) \u201912, MA\u201913 and Brendan O\u2019Connor \u201909 tallied when they set out to prepare the Bicentennial cake.<\/p>\n Colgate tasked the Flour & Salt bakery co-owners with providing a red velvet cake for 2,000 attendees in the shape of a 20- by 20-foot C resembling the new logo.<\/p>\n Brendan calculated how many cakes it would require and figured out how to form the shape of the letter. Then, for the month leading up to the Bicentennial kickoff, Britty and her assistant baker made 40 18- by 26-inch rectangular sheet cakes. They spent almost two weeks whipping up vanilla buttercream frosting using 225 pounds of confectioners sugar and 112 pounds of butter. Then, the bakers lightly frosted, refrigerated, and refrosted (a technique called crumb coating) these dual-layer cakes before tightly Saran wrapping and storing them in a walk-in freezer.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was tiring and also terrifying,\u201d Britty says. \u201cBoth Brendan and I graduated from Colgate, so we wanted this to be really wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n On the morning of the Bicentennial kickoff, Facilities Department members helped transport the cakes to Whitnall Field, where tables placed in the shape of a C awaited. For four and a half hours, the couple constructed the two-cake\u2013wide C while Flour & Salt staff frosted it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The letter C appeared many places during Bicentennial weekend \u2014 including gold pins, embroidered maroon hats, and banners throughout Hamilton. But the most impressive display was when Colgate community members joined together to form a human C during halftime at Saturday\u2019s homecoming football game on Crown Field.<\/p>\n Staff members from athletics, alumni relations, and the special events committee came up with the idea, and professors helped execute the plan.<\/p>\n First, in order to determine what points would make a perfect C on such a large scale, math<\/a> professor Will Cipolli<\/a> superimposed the new Colgate logo onto a proportionally accurate football field background. He then used precalculus distance calculations from known points (hash marks at certain points of the field) to determine coordinates.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe were all a part of Colgate\u2019s history together.\u201d \u2014 Alena Maiolo \u201921<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Then, theater<\/a> professor April Sweeney<\/a> used her background in immersive theater to provide insight into the best way to position people and encourage participation from the crowd. Under her advice, people would first form the outline of the letter and then others would fill in the empty space.<\/p>\n On game day, recruited students \u2014 women\u2019s hockey and men\u2019s basketball athletes \u2014 created the outline, as they\u2019d rehearsed. Next, approximately 1,100 participants fled onto the field to complete the formation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were all a part of Colgate\u2019s history together,\u201d Alena Maiolo \u201921 says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The elements collided on Bicentennial Kickoff Weekend when nine-time Grammy Award\u2013winning band Earth, Wind & Fire performed in Sanford Field House on Sept. 22.<\/p>\n More than 5,000 students, alumni, parents, and community members scored tickets for the free concert. Jazmyn McKoy \u201917<\/a>, once a member of the Colgate University Choir, was the opening act, belting out songs like Simon & Garfunkel\u2019s \u201cBridge Over Troubled Water.\u201d<\/p>\n When the R&B legends took the stage, audience members tossed around LED-lit balls as the renowned ensemble performed favorite tunes including \u201cShining Star,\u201d \u201cLet\u2019s Groove,\u201d and \u201cJupiter.\u201d After the encore \u2014 \u201cIn the Stone\u201d \u2014 the band handed out song sheets and drumsticks as memorabilia for fans.<\/p>\n The band encouraged the crowd to sing along \u2014 uniting alumni who were fans back in the \u201970s with students hearing the classic tunes for the first time in what proved to be a memorable night.<\/p>\n![\"Patti](\"http:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/02\/patismith.png\")
<\/a>High note:<\/strong> As Colgate prepared for Bicentennial Kickoff weekend, a legendary opening act took the stage Sept. 20. Patti Smith, singer-songwriter and author, appeared as part of the Living Writers<\/a> series. Smith read from her National Book Award-winning memoir, Just Kids<\/em>, and she performed a number of her greatest hits relating to the passages.<\/div>\n![\"Britty](\"http:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/02\/092118_bicentennial_MDD_6025-1.jpg\")
<\/a>
\nDessert for 2,000? A Piece of Cake<\/h2>\n
\n![\"Colgate](\"http:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/02\/121918_13_photos_MDD_013.jpg\")
<\/a>
\nEmbodying Colgate\u2019s Logo<\/h2>\n
\nA crowd of 7,753 fans at Andy Kerr Stadium watched the Colgate Raiders kick the Lafayette Leopards\u2019 tails 45\u20130. The Raiders wore vintage 1932 throwback uniforms for the homecoming game, which resulted in Colgate\u2019s largest margin of victory in a shutout since defeating Lafayette 47\u20130 in 1945.<\/div>\n![\"Earth,](\"http:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/02\/092218_EWF_MDD_4318.jpg\")
<\/a>
\nDo you remember the 22nd night of September?<\/h2>\n
\n![\"Jazmyn](\"http:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/02\/092218_Jazmyn_McKoy_GG_8708.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n