MBU Traditions
MBU’s traditions create lasting memories between students and connect them our proud history. The current campus community and generations of alumni come together to share experiences, have fun, and revel in our MBU traditions.
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Major MBU Events
Apple Day
First celebrated in 1942, Apple Day is one of MBU’s most unique fall events for students. Undergraduates take a day off from classes to glean apples together at a local orchard. In addition to apple picking, students are able to spend time together at a campus festival and bond over delicious apple dishes served at the dining hall.
Apple Day is also about celebrating and giving back to the Staunton community. All of the apples gleaned during the day are donated to a local food bank, and students spend their free time volunteering for local schools and community gardens.
Capstone Festival
In the earliest days of MBU, final examinations were conducted in public, with students gave recitations and solved math problems in front of the Board of Trustees, their peers, and the townspeople of Staunton.
Held at the end of spring semester, the Capstone Festival connects us back to that history, giving a select group of seniors the opportunity to present their scholarly and artistic works to the wider campus community and the public.
Holidays and Cultural Celebrations
Ajani Celebration
Ajani is a Swahili word meaning she who wins all struggles. The Ajani Celebration is a rite of passage ceremony that honors seniors who have committed their MBU journey to inclusive excellence in the MBU community.
The Ajani Celebration charges its honorees to continue their service to diversity, belonging, and mutual respect beyond graduation and into their future careers.
Kwanzaa
The annual MBU Kwanzaa celebration marks a special rite of passage for African American freshmen and graduating seniors, filling the Student Activities Center with feasting, music, dancing, and storytelling.
You start out as one person and, at some point during that ceremony, you realize you’ve blossomed into this better, more confident version of yourself.
Tiffany Foreman, ’04
Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration
Since 1992, MBU students and community members have come together for a special celebration of the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. each January.
Activities include the hosting of several events meant to continue King’s legacy of civil rights activism and service, such as reading rooms, workshops, lectures, and a community vesper service for peace and justice in downtown Staunton.
Las Posadas
Las Posadas is a reenactment of the Christian nativity celebrated in Latin American communities around the world. During the event, two children are selected to portray Mary and Joseph in their search for shelter.
At MBU, this reenactment includes a pilgrimage of students and community members across campus, with each stop celebrating a different culture’s holiday traditions.
Campus Tree Lighting
The Campus Tree Lighting invites both the MBU and Staunton communities to join in the spirit of the holiday season and witness as MBU’s tree illuminates Page Terrace.
During the celebration, student choral groups sing carols and festive songs, members of the college community provide readings, and everyone counts down to the tree lighting.
Founder’s Day
Founders Day marks the birthday of co-founder Mary Julia Baldwin and has been celebrated since 1898 with a ceremony in honor of the university’s two founders: Rufus W. Bailey and Mary Baldwin.
On Founder’s Day, the senior class wears their caps and gowns for the first time, marching in procession to Page Terrace where they will soon graduate.
Student Life Traditions
Opening Convocation
At the end of Orientation weekend, the candle-lit convocation ceremony celebrates and welcomes new students to MBU’s campus.
New students are inducted into the community by reciting the Pledge of Inclusivity and joining their voices in the Hymn to Mary Baldwin.
SGA Installation
Student Government Association officers are installed every spring, as one group of MBU leaders passes the torch to the next, reaffirming MBU’s commitment to governance and the honor code.
Being a leader starts long before the title on our campus, where students have so many opportunities to get involved, inspire others, and put their visions into fruition.
Qadira Muhammad, SGA President, ’19
Family Weekend
Each fall, MBU’s campus fills with the families of students who come to visit and participate in various activities, such as a theatre performance, downtown shopping, a Virginia Women’s Institute for Leadership parade, and a “backyard” barbecue.
Family Weekend also includes one of MBU’s most treasured traditions, the Junior Ball, when members of the junior class and their families celebrate with a personal presentation and formal dance.
Apple Eve
The night before Apple Day, students gather at the Physical Activities Center for a dodgeball tournament in celebration of the day to come.
Afterwards, they head to the Student Activities Center for a performance from the MBU dance clubs and the annual Remix the Hymn competition, followed by a dance.
Decorating Ham and Jam
During Commencement weekend, seniors gather in front of Fox Leadership Hall to deck out Ham and Jam, MBU’s famous dog statues, in their class colors.
Seniors also take this opportunity to ring the MBU bell, and gather for a class photo to celebrate their final year at MBU.
Signature Ball
Hosted by the student-run Baldwin Program Board, the Signature Ball is MBU’s annual formal dance.
Students gather during the last weekend in January for an evening of elegance, music, and unforgettable moments.
MBU Symbols
Class Colors
Starting in 1912, Mary Baldwin students picked two colors to represent their class, and the next three class years did the same. You’ll see class colors represented in the medallions first-year students receive at Opening Convocation, and when seniors decorate Ham and Jam and participate in the Ajani Ceremony during Commencement weekend. Each new entering class of Mary Baldwin carries on the tradition of sharing class colors:
| 2026 | Scarlet and Gold |
| 2027 | Green and White |
| 2028 | Purple and Gold |
| 2029 | Lavender and White |
A Hymn for Mary Baldwin
Sung at several annual events such as Opening Convocation and Commencement and set to the melody of a Scandinavian folk song, A Hymn for Mary Baldwin was written by Professor Emeritus of Music Gordon Page in the mid-’60s.
- To these halls where Wisdom reckons,
To these hills where Beauty dwells;
Where the search for Learning beckons,
Where its tumult never quells. - Here we bring our childhood visions
Stirring in the quest for Truth;
Here we forge the mind’s decisions
Tempered by the faith of youth.
- Friendship, honor, sorrow, laughter
Are the ways by which we learn,
Knowledge first, then Wisdom after,
Love that seeks not for return. - When we reach the last tomorrow
Of our days in class, on field,
We will know how we must borrow,
Mary Baldwin, from thy yield.
Our Mascots
Baldwin the Fighting Squirrel
The Fighting Squirrels team nickname is inspired by the squirrel featured in the family crest of MBU namesake Mary Julia Baldwin. Fighting Squirrels are courageous, dynamic, and authentic, capturing the spirit of Mary Baldwin University and its students.
Baldwin the Fighting Squirrel is the official mascot of MBU Athletics. Introduced in 2019, Baldwin appears at MBU athletic events, as well as other campus and community events.
Gladys the Squirrel
After emerging on the scene in the early 1980s, Gladys the Squirrel today serves as an ambassador to alumni and the Mary Baldwin College for Women. She may be seen at events such as Homecoming, Reunion, and alumni chapter meetings.
Inclusivity Pledge
The MBU community recites the Pledge of Inclusivity during the annual State of the University and Opening Convocation, reaffirming the commitment of all faculty, staff, and students to the university’s inclusive community:
We, the community of Mary Baldwin University, strive to celebrate humanity in all its wondrous and complex variation. Because we value diversity, it is our mission to sustain a community where all may flourish. We are safe to embrace our shared experiences and our differences. To this end, we treat all with respect and compassion.
University Seal
MBU’s seal bears the symbols of a squirrel, an acorn, oak leaves, and our motto, “Non pro tempore sed aeternitate,” which means “Not for time but for eternity.”
These symbols were taken from the Baldwin’s family crest, thought to be derived from their ancestors in Ireland and England.