Light the Night has been a CNU tradition welcoming students back to campus for several years. The event is put on by the Student Government Association (SGA), typically the weekend before classes to kick off the start of the school year. When the weekend came around, students were back on campus and ready to experience Light the Night in full force, after two years of Covid impacting the event. But the weather had different plans. Light the Night was canceled and the only thing students could do was wait for SGA to announce a new date. 

 “I was mildly annoyed at it being delayed; I was planning to go if it wasn’t,” sophomore Tom Foti said. After a week of CNU hyping up the event, some people felt it was a bit of a letdown to have it rescheduled. “I understand why it was postponed, but in doing so it made it less exciting,” said senior Emma Charlton. 

Despite moving the event, there was still a good turnout on the night of the 26th. Students queued up to get free t-shirts and then milled around The Great Lawn picking up glow sticks and waiting for the night to start. A little past 8, SGA’s president Celine Rosario gave a speech about the tradition of Light the Night and the event kicked off. Students counted down and threw their glow sticks in the air as music started playing. 

“Watching the glow sticks in the air was mesmerizing and looked like fireworks falling down in front of my face. It is a must see event!” freshman Bella Sangiuliano said.

This year Light the Night was finally back on the Great Lawn, where it hadn’t been since 2019. “I’ve gone every year except 2020 when it wasn’t held. It was on the soccer field last year, and I think it’s better on the Great Lawn for sure,” said Charlton.

After two years of being canceled and scaled back, most of the student body was unsure what to expect. Seniors who had been freshman year had high expectations based on their experiences. “2019 was the best. It was the night before classes my freshman year and it was one of the first times I felt the power of the CNU community,” Charlton said. People were hoping that this year’s Light the Night would be reminiscent of that year and a return to normal. 

The general consensus was that a good attitude was what determined how fun the event was. Freshman Lauren Wilson said, “I felt like Light the Night was what you made it! My friends and I stayed for most of the event and had so much fun dancing around and meeting new people.”

Even if Light the Night 2022 wasn’t the same as previous years, bringing back the tradition was exciting to see. “I loved Light the Night! It was so fun to be a part of this tradition on campus,” Wilson said.