Coming to Wellesley in 2020 was like walking to the observatory at night: dark and mysterious. Although I had memorized the COVID-19 protocols and done my background research on Wellesley traditions, I had no idea what Wellesley’s social spaces would look like. After arriving, all of the first years had a pretty similar realization: COVID-era Wellesley was very boring. Everyday we spent time working for our shadow graded classes, maybe going on a masked walk, or watching the Queen’s Gambit alone in our single dorms. With nothing else to do, we turned to the existing “Wellesley 50,” a dare list of 50 items to be completed before graduating. These silly dares got us through the year, encouraging us to jump in the lake in late November, or to take off everything but the face mask and run across Sev Green. Most importantly, it helped us to feel connected to a larger Wellesley culture during a time when institutional memory was being lost. Now as a senior, the Wellesley 50 seems like a lost memory, to the point where most first-years I have interacted with have no idea it exists. So, with the help of a few friends, I introduce the new and improved Wellesley 50! 

1. Sled down Sev Hill after a snowstorm
2. Skinny dip in Lake Waban
3. Email a professor after midnight
4. Serenade a random table in the dining hall
5. Make a separate meal using the ingredients from the dining hall
6. Go to the ice cream station and it takes an excessively long time (minimum 2 minutes)
7. Take a picture on the roof of a residential building
8. Stand-up when called on to share in class
9. Go to Wellesley Drag! (Bonus points for performing!)
10. DJ on the Loco
11. Eat at all the dining halls in one day 
12. Actually complete the “Green Mile” in Green Hall
13. Bring 5 cis men to the Tower Steps at one time 
14. Pull an all-nighter in an academic building 
15. Never go to Babson
16. Be besties with your hall custodian
17. Show up to class in business formal
18. Show up to class in jammies
19. Bring a friend to class 
20. Throw a dorm RAGER!
21. Embody your inner Wendy and “shhh” somebody in class
22. Lighten up 🙂
23. Streak across Sev Green
24. Kiss a runner at Marmon!
25. Obnoxiously eat in class from the Ozzi Box
26. Significantly change your appearance for one class (cosplay)
27. Loudly drop water bottle 5 times in one class
28. Change seats after unofficial assigned seats are established 
29. Have a little 🙂
30. Get lost in the Science Center
31. Go to an open house for every department (Free food!)
32. Run for student office
33. Sit with a random group of friends in a dining hall 
34. Audition for the Wellesley Widows
35. Go on a romantic walk around the lake 3 times for everlasting love
36. Get denied from an MIT frat
37. Sing out of a dorm window or prop your door open and sing into your hallway
38. Poop Convo: talk to the person in the stall next to you
39. Get abandoned in Boston by the Loco
40. Overtly flirt with a dining hall worker
41. Clean up your hair from the shower (this is a hard one)
42.  Make a new friend in the elevator (You have about 10 minutes anyway)
43. Sample every flavor at JP Licks then purchase nothing
44. Take a picture with a goose
45. Put MIT in your Instagram bio after cross-registering 
46. Have a cute picnic by the Paintshop Pond dam 
47. Go to a sporting event for every Wellesley team, including rugby and whiptails
48. Get a Wellesley chop
49. Go golfing for free at the Wellesley Country Club
50. Study abroad!!