Seven Temptations at AUCA’s Freshmen Initiation

November 17, 2015

On Tuesday, November 10, AUCA conducted it’s annual Initiation ceremony for the AUCA class of 2019. The celebration was organized by the Office of Student Affairs. In addition, the ceremony was accompanied by the traditional musical theatre extravaganza from the university theater group Mirrors.

The freshmen initiation ceremony took place in the Kyrgyz National Philharmonic. The evening started with a few words of welcome, followed by the inauguration of the student senate. Standing on stage with the outgoing senators, the newly inducted Senate took an oath in which they vowed to fulfill their obligations and serve for the benefit of the AUCA community of students. After the senate swore in, U.S. ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic Sheila Gwaltney welcomed the new students in Russian and Kyrgyz and congratulated them for their decision to start a new life in AUCA’s halls.

In accordance with tradition, Andrew Wachtel gave the next speech, congratulating the new student senators, and expressing his hope that the new freshmen would keep up their thirst for knowledge and for a better future for Kyrgyzstan. Dr. Wachtel noted that, at this juncture, a great responsibility rested on each of the student’s shoulders.

The freshmen, along with their classmates, sang traditional AUCA student songs. The celebration continued with a specially prepared performance by university theater group Mirrors titled The Seven Temptations of Mr. N. The group was well-received by the students, faculty, staff, and guests.   

According to Nikolai Shulgin, Mirrors Director, The Seven Temptations of Mr. N. highlighted the fact that “every young person is surrounded by all sorts of temptation, and so they are always faced with a choice—that’s how it will be for their entire lives.” The director continued, “All of this is very true for the freshmen. They always need to choose, even from the beginning of their classes.” Shulgin commented about the show, “the only challenge with the musical was how to convey this idea through music and choreography with limited text.”

Social networks were replete with colorful pictures and videos from the event, complete with the hashtags #AUCA2015 #aucainitiation and #initiation2015

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