Banner Stealing Brings Mayhem

Chaos struck traditions this year for sophomores and freshmen.

Sarah Wilson Week comes once a year to Wilson College. The festivities have an event—or two— each day and evening. One of the last events involves hiding and stealing class banners around campus.

Banner stealing, a long standing tradition where students of each class hide a banner on the campus and give clues to its location, created an uproar this year when the sophomore class lost their banner.

Sophomore class president Celia Whitcomb ’17 worried about losing such a vital heirloom.

“To me, the banner is Sarah Wilson Week. The banner has been passed down from other classes,” said Whitcomb. If the banner had not been found, Whitcomb said that a new banner would need to be made.

Vice President Sam Schlegel ’17 initially hid the banner.

“I hid it in the annex between Rosie [Rosencrantz] and the nursing center,” said Schlegel. She noted that some nursing students lingered in the annex when she hid it.

“A few of them were in there when I hid it,” says Schlegel. “They were helping me hide it, and I was explaining the tradition to them.”

Once Whitcomb realized the banner was missing she panicked.

“At first I was really, really nervous,” said Whitcomb. “I called Sam four times and we searched the spot.” When no one posted a new clue, things became tense.

Schlegel said, “I was really mad.”

The sophomores had already decided earlier that they wanted to make banner stealing more fun and provide new clues every hour to increase the chance of theft and make it a more fast-paced game. They assumed that the freshmen may have taken the banner and not understood the rules.

“There was definitely a lot of sassing at 1 a.m.,” said Whitcomb. “Honestly, it probably gave a bit of a negative impact. I wasn’t upset with the freshmen, though.”

Some of the freshmen remarked on the events.

Christian Wagner ’18 said, “It really sucked because someone took the flag.”

Another student, Cody Dunlap ‘18, said, “It was really slow and uneventful.”

The freshmen did not seem harassed or overly upset about the sophomores blaming them. They were more concerned with the lack of action in the event.

Perhaps this crazy night will make other classes reevaluate their banner stealing activities.