Ivy Day is a series of annual ceremonies in which an ivy stone is placed on either a residential, academic or administrative building or ground to commemorate academic excellence. The ceremony is most known for being practiced among older

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

s in the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States (also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. Located on the East Coast of the United States, ...

. It is most associated with the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

and a group of small liberal arts college known as the Little Ivies. Some institutions announce members of

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

and specialized honor designations for students. Some classes donate to the college, in the form of gates, facades, and door outlines, by inscribing or creating their own version of symbolic icons of the college's seal or other prominent insignia. The ivy stones are usually decorated with the graduation date and a symbol that represents the college as a whole or the class as a whole. The most common ivy stone is one-by-two feet and is usually made out of workable stone. On occasion students have featured prominent alumni on their class on ivy stones or have selected to feature an engraving of a member of their graduating class. Since 1866 at Princeton, and later at other colleges, students have unveiled class ivy stones at the annual ivy day preceding commencement. Students may also have a selective procession prior to the official commencement walk to honor each stone being placed on the buildings. On some occasions students plant ivy in front or on the side of their ivy stones.Bates College website
(accessed February 27, 2009) Students are known to give speeches at Ivy Day to commemorate their time and work at the college. At Tulane University, the medical school also participates in Ivy Day, likely given the fact that Tulane was founded first as a medical school. As part of the modern college admissions process, the term "Ivy Day" also refers to the day in late March where the

universities release their admissions decisions.

References

External links

Image of University of Southern California students marching on Ivy Day, Los Angeles, 1926.

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library,

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. School traditions Ceremonies in the United States Bates College Bowdoin College Columbia University Princeton University Smith College Tulane University University of Pennsylvania University of Nebraska System {{Tradition-stub