Ever since it was instituted to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the college, the Torchlight Ceremony has been a tradition on the eve of Commencement. Written by Lida S. Penfield, for whom Penfield Library is named, the “Message of the Torch” welcomes graduates into the Oswego Alumni Association.
Originally held around the statue of Founder Edward Austin Sheldon on the lawn of the building that bears his name, as in the 1938 ceremony pictured here, Torchlight has grown so large it now fills a tent to the north of the Campus Center. Despite changes over the years, the ceremony’s core remains the same: Light from the Torch of Learning is passed from the faculty and alumni of Oswego to the graduating seniors on the eve of their Commencement.
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