Celebrating 278 Years of George Washington

At most schools, students, administration, and faculty alike wouldn’t think to celebrate their founder’s birthday.

But then again, none of those schools can count our nation’s first President as their founder.

Monday night the Continental Ballroom was host to a fife and drum band, Senior VP Robert Chernak, 6 cherry-pie-eating contestants, and a few dozen students to celebrate George Washington’s 278th birthday. The event, moved inside because of the rain, featured said pie-eating contest and the announcement of the finalists for the Mr. GW and Ms. GW contestants.

The GW Men’s Basketball team and a few members of the Women’s Basketball team were also on hand to wish Mr. President a happy birthday. Senior Damian Hollis addressed the crowd, telling them to come to the team’s last home games of the season coming up in the next few weeks. His reminder that these would be his own last home games at GW drew a few saddened cries.

Goody bags were abundant at the sparsely-attended bash. Inside were slightly stale marshmallows, a stick of chocolate, and pre-wrapped graham crackers to virtually roast by the virtual bonfire raging on a screen on the far side of the room. This marks the third time in four years that George Washington’s birthday has been moved due to weather.

GW isn’t the only local institution honoring George Washington’s birthday. A GW Birthday Classic 10K is held annually in Alexandria, Virginia. Their event was actually canceled this year due to the snow that demobilized the city for days.

Click image above to go to our Flickr stream with more images of George Washington's 278th birthday celebration at the George Washington University!