The Carroll Room was alive with applause and chatter on Sept. 26, as students looked forward to watching their friends and classmates present one another in the Student Event Committee’s “Pitch-a-Friend” event at the Julia McWilliams Child ’34 Campus Center. No presentation resembled any other, with themes ranging from goth to Valentine, or nature to history-focused. The many attendees came to either pitch or be pitched, drink mocktails, or watch a celebration of friendship occur.
Weina Lu ’28, the event organizer, found the idea online. “I thought it could be cool for Smith…I also saw someone on Confesh request a Pitch-a-Friend (queer edition),” said Lu. She viewed Pitch-a-Friend as another opportunity for the “Smith community to be able to socialize and connect.”
The pitchers were all eager to share how incredible their friends are. “It’s very fun to get to take someone you love very much and think the world of and get to talk about [them],” said Molly Shay ’28, who pitched her friend Emma Coopersmith ’28. Her presentation emphasized Coppersmith’s kindness, competence, and love of nature—all in bright purple font.
For those who had just come to watch, such as Avery Kirschensteiner ’29, fun was still had. “It was just a celebration of friendship, getting to see all these first years that had known each other for only a couple weeks pitching each other,” Kirschensteiner said. For her and other attendees, much of the event’s joy did not come from the expectation of romance, but from seeing how eager these Smithies were to express their love for their friends.
Katherine Cherington ’30 and Mercianna Riggs ’30 exhibited this ideal. “We do everything together,” said Riggs, which made it a natural choice for the two to pitch each other.
“It was really fun. I liked making the slideshow personalized to her,” Cherington said. Her slideshow emphasized Riggs’ love of music and her community, featuring pink paper and lollipops.
The pair agreed to keep their presentations about each other a secret until the pitch itself to keep the process more interesting.
Riggs added, “I really enjoyed us [pitching] each other…I feel like that gives the audience a better understanding of both of our characters.” Riggs’ presentation for Cherington was history-themed, emphasizing Cherington’s love of her family.
The welcoming environment of Pitch-a-Friend—with audience members clapping, asking questions, and more—helped fulfill Lu’s intent for the event. “I wanted my event to highlight the friendship between the pitcher and the pitchee, so being able to see a lot of people highlighting the best things about their friends was really cute,” Lu said.
“Smith is a very unique environment in which people feel comfortable enough to pitch and be pitched,” Kirschensteiner noted. The sound of Smithies supporting one another—doubling as the room’s liveliness—created a wonderful atmosphere where students could just think about the joy their friends bring them.
Be First to Comment