Bell Night welcomes the class of 2030

The recast bell rang four times on its first Bell Night, once for each house.

The new class gathered on the terrace at dusk, and returning students filled the library steps. Four seniors carried Captain Brannock’s surveyor’s chest out of Founders Library and set it on station one. The registrar read the roll for a little over an hour. Each student drew a brass marker, read its number aloud, and stepped back into the crowd.

It was the first Bell Night for the bell students recast last fall. Dean Raman read the houses in the usual order, beginning with Brannock, and the bell answered each list with a single stroke. Seniors said the note was higher than they remembered. The new class had no other bell to compare it to.