On March 12, 2025, Smith College released an announcement that they are committed to changing the school mascot from the Pioneers, which have been Smith’s mascot since 1986, to a moniker that better represents the values and interests of the Smith community by the end of the academic year. They sent out a survey where students can submit up to three nominations for the new mascot for a period of two weeks. No current or former mascots can be nominated.
Posts published in “Sports”
After back-to-back wins on their home court, Smith basketball will continue on to the next round of the NCAA championship. The pioneers pulled off a triumphant 69-59 win over SUNY Cobleskill on Friday, March 7th, sending them to a Pioneer Valley faceoff against Amherst College on Saturday, where graduate student Ally Landau ’26 scored a buzzer beater in the final seconds of the match to earn Smith a 52-50 win. The pioneers will play at the Sweet 16 this Friday, March 14th.
With 20% of Smith students calling the West Coast home and California being one of the most represented states on campus, the California wildfires have devastated the Smith community. California’s Incident Archive states that in 2025 alone, there have been 359 wildfires, 29 fatalities and 16,248 structures destroyed. Gaby Ayala Becerra ’25 and Hadley Vareschi-Woelfel ’25, with the help of Smith Athletics and the Smith Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), have transformed their grief into action by organizing a campus-wide Jog-a-Thon to raise money for relief efforts.
Revamping of the “Central District” has closed the athletic fields, as the site is currently being used as a wellfield for the drilling of two drill rigs. The athletic fields affected consist of the soccer field and throwing and jumping spaces for the Track and Field team. A comment from the Geothermal Energy Project shared that construction on these fields will take place from Nov. 12, 2024 to May 15, 2026.
On Feb. 4, the Department of Education (ED) sent a “Dear Colleague” letter stating that the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) will be reverting back to the 2020 Title IX Rule, created by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos during Trump’s first term.
One of WOZQ’s newest radio shows, “The W in Win,” covers global women’s sports news as well as prominent Smith Athletics performances and events. The show airs every Thursday from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. and is hosted by Syd Levine ’27, Sarah Formica ’27 and Kylie Cave ’28. There is also an archive of past episodes available on Mixlr.
The Get Fit Smith (GFS) program was designed to bolster student engagement by offering a mix of different physical activities and creating a space for students and faculty to teach workout classes to the community. There are currently 13 classes offered throughout the week, ranging from spin classes to zumba, yoga and even functional workout programs.
Over 250 student-athletes are part of Smith Athletics' 11 varsity sports teams. Any injury, rehabilitation process, practice and game coverage or mental support needed for these athletes are directed towards the Athletic Training (AT) Department. The department is run by Deb Coutu and Kelli Steele, the only AT’s on staff this year after the loss of the graduate assistant position due to a 2015 policy change by the National Athletic Trainer’s Association (NATA).
Editor's Note: this article was originally a part of our September Print edition.
Smith’s ultimate frisbee team, LunaDisc, is open to all students regardless of ability or experience level. The organization operates as a single team socially, but they are split up into two teams for competition: Luna is the “A” team or the team for more experienced players, while Sola (short for solar eclipse) is a more developmental league that provides hands-on support and practice for newer players. Each team has two captains: Al Torrens-Martin ’25 and Sophia Jerome ’27 lead Luna, while Ginger Silverman ’26 and Syd Pichette ’27 lead Sola.