First Flight Experience

This past Friday, the University of Hartford was happy to welcome back one of its most important and well-known traditions, ‘First Flight’. To kickoff the school year, the student body celebrated the first in-person event since Covid. The SGA and Office of student engagement worked hard to plan and meaningful experience for many students who may not have known what First Flight was.

At 5’oclock, students flooded Poe Park showing off school spirit with UHART apparel, ready to celebrate the Pre-Flight event with lots of pride. (Students) lined up outside A and C comp for activities such as Food Trucks, body art, and photo ops with Howie the Hawk. Sophomore Student Ethan Goldstein explained, “it felt good to be back at in-person events.” And that it truly made him feel like he “Was finally a part of the University.” It seemed that students were more than happy to come together and grow closer as a community, something we could not do much of during times of Covid.

The night’s commencement began at 7:30, where students gathered in the gymnasium with lots of welcome and support for our women’s and men’s D1 basketball teams! The evening was brought to life with a performance by the Dance team and a lively competition of tug-a-war, performed by a variety of the Universities student body. Safety restrictions were taken due to the lingering effects of Covid, but overall, First Flight was a success. A long-missed tradition that students were happy to welcome back onto campus made things feel just a bit more normal this year.