Initiation Day: The Ins and Outs

September 19, 2014

Founded in 1993, the Kyrgyz-American School, as part of the Kyrgyz State National University, became an independent institution known as the American University in Kyrgyzstan in 1997. It became in 2002, as it is known now, the American University of Central Asia; and its reputation as the highest quality educational institution has only risen. Not only is its education respected, but the passion and interaction of its’ students with their university and community is as well.

Last year’s Initiation Ceremony marked the 20^th anniversary of the first incarnation of AUCA, and our organizers and performers this year face an uphill battle to match the grandeur of last year’s ceremony. So what is Initiation Day all about? Officially it is about formally incorporating freshmen into the university and celebrating that fact, but more than that, it is “not just to show all our freshmen, that you are real students now, but we have other goals. The main goal is to support the unique spirit of AUCA,” explained Nikolay Shulgin, Dean of Students at AUCA. And just what is that spirit? We asked Bermet Ismailova, student coordinator and member of “Theatre” Mirrors, and she said that “spirit is not the lectures, its not the seminars, its not the trainings; spirit is what we have with all of these extracurricular activities” and that it “unites us.”

We asked Mr. Shulgin about the emphasis of performance and celebration, that unique spirit, at AUCA and just why it is so important for the university to put on the best show in town. “Sometimes when I hear, ‘its just only fun and games’, its not true. It’s not just fun, its also creating. It’s creating some special community. If you will just come to class, then leave university and prepare for next class, you will be only one in this life,” he said. He used the metaphor of an “iceberg” to explain the indirect importance and benefits of such activities, “we can see just the smallest part above the water, we are only talking now about the small part. But we don’t see all there is under the water; all the connections and everything that happens…when we work together we work like glue, as one.” But the process of all this is anything but simple.

As of this week, no one is sure what acts will be part of the second half variety show. The first half is however laid out; speeches by AUCA President Andrew Wachtel and likely Ambassador Pamela Spratlen, among possible guests. Past speakers have included presidents of other universities, particularly ones from the United States. The freshly elected Student Senate will be sworn in, and the freshmen pledge recited. It is after this official ceremony that the culmination of two months of work by hundreds of volunteers will be witnessed.

The process of deciding what acts to include in the ceremony has and will involve several AUCA staff members. Mr. Shulgin told us that the students come to him and pitch ideas for their acts during the casting process, and that after several days of deliberation the casting committee makes decisions. Those decisions are not final however, as the committee “make[s] a program list and then maybe we will have 60% of what we will do in the next few days. Then during our preparation and work, we will add or change maybe 40% of the program. So right now, I can’t really tell you what will happen, I don’t know,” confessed Mr. Shulgin. The overall concept of the performance is not decided yet either, whether it will be a musical or other production is still in the air. What is known though, is that the process involves over 150 student volunteers, 80% of which are freshmen.

Some of these volunteers are apprehensive and unsure of their own ability. But they shouldn’t be according to Mr. Shulgin; “They say that oh it is very hard, only special people can do it. Its not true its, not true. If you like, if you want, you will be a part of it. Maybe you won’t be the star, the main role, but we have a lot of people on stage, and you can be a part.” The group, Theatre Mirrors, will train and make sure everyone knows what to do; Bermet told us that almost “90% of the student volunteers don’t know how to dance…so we have to spend a lot of time to train to get ready for the performance.”

It will certainly not be easy, but for the performers, the benefits are priceless. “If you ask our alumni, what do you remember from AUCA; ‘oh I remember our Initiation, when we worked for 2 months and discussed and fought with Shulgin. But then we had such applause and were so excited afterward that we remember,’” said Mr. Shulgin about the feeling of accomplishment post-ceremony.

With planning for this year’s Initiation Day underway, next year’s seems far away. But just to give you an idea of the amount of preparation that goes into this event, there are already plans for next year; Mr. Shulgin hopes it will take place in AUCA’s new campus!

Make sure to pick up tickets at AUCA in Bravo, and we hope to see you at our Initiation Ceremony this November the 12^th!

<< go to news list