It's TINKER DAY!

We never know when it's going to be, only that it will be on a lovely day in the fall. We wake up to the alert at 7:00am - IT'S TINKER DAY! (Click the image below to see the whole crowd on Youtube!) Tinker Day is an annual celebration at Hollins University and has been for over 100 years. You can see photos of Tinker Day going back to the 1880s HERE.
     On Tinker Day, classes are cancelled. Students, faculty, and staff dress in costumes and hike up Tinker Mountain. The reward: a picnic of fried chicken, songs, skits, and Tinker Cake. A newer tradition is that President Hinton puts together a hilarious video each year to prepare - always based on a movie. Last year's movie theme was FERRIS BUELLER. This year was CLUELESS! (Click on the image below to watch on YouTube and you'll see why we love her so much!)      The day begins with a gathering on the Quad. Everyone is buzzing as we laugh and enjoy everyone's costumes.








Everyone gets into it! Here I am with Erin who runs our study abroad programming (she's dressed as a Hollins student and I'm a wood spirit). And here's Erin with the housing team - they chose to be Hobbits this year! Here I am with Brenda who always dresses THE BEST. Even our security and maintenance guys get into it!      We enjoy a speech from our fabulous President Hinton. Then each undergraduate class performs a silly song followed by the Hollins' alma mater sung by the HU Chorus. The hike follows and it is not for the meek! For those of us with bad knees, we can walk the campus loop, get a free lunch and enjoy a quiet day to catch up. It's always a special day no matter how you participate, and one that we all look forward to! Mostly, I just can't believe I work at a place where it's necessary to keep costumes on hand. How awesome is that!?
HAPPY! HAPPY TINKER DAY!