Ohio Grand Assembly Friday July 13, 2018
I just got back from Ohio Grand Assembly 2018 and I am so excited about it I just had to write a web article. But there’s so much I want to say that I am going to write an article for each day that we were there. Their Grand Assembly starts on Thursday so we missed one full day.
Starting from the beginning, I woke up Friday morning far earlier than I like to at 4am, and I got packed because I was busy with my math and the Royal Arch dinner the day before. We, meaning my mom, Zoey and me, piled into the car and were on the road a little after 5 am. It was a seven hour drive to get to Gambier, OH and it was in the middle of no-where so we did get lost in a corn field because the navigation in the car became confused.
Once we finally got to the Kenyon College campus we found the athletic center where the sessions were held. We couldn’t register there and then had to find the dining hall. We were met by Mom Crystal to get us registered and she rushed us off to get lunch since the dining hall was about to close. The food was wonderful and there were so many choices! After we ate Mom Crystal showed us the dorm we would be staying at and then we got unpacked and changed into short dresses for the afternoon session since we couldn’t sit in the east because we missed the beginning.
We got to the afternoon session after elections, but just in time to hear the grand appointments for the coming year. This year it was announced that the girls who were only Grand Reps would have four jurisdictions each because Ohio Rainbow membership is so new that many girls weren’t ready to serve as a Grand Officer yet. I found out my counterpart and was able to meet her and get her contact information. The afternoon session ended and we were able to catch the shuttle back to the dorms so we could change into casual clothes for dinner in the dining hall. Zoey and I happened to wear the exact same Rainbow shirt to dinner and so many people liked it and wanted to buy one. Unfortunately, we were wearing the one for Rachael so there aren’t any more to buy. I guess Harry Potter themed shirts are popular no matter where you go! After dinner we made our way over to the Sock Hop Party for the evening, but not before stopping at the campus book store to get souvenirs!
After the bookstore we walked to the party and started out by picking up some free snacks – cotton candy, popcorn and snow cones. Then we started to play the carnival games. At the party they had a “jail” set up that you could put someone in the jail by paying $1 and to get out you needed to get someone else to pay $1 so you could leave. The proceeds went to a scholarship fund to pay for girls to go to Grand Assembly. They had a DJ and the girls were dancing it up. At about 8 pm the out-of-state guest Rainbow Girls were made the judges of the costume contest and Zoey and I got to judge the costumes. They divided the girls up into three age groups and we judged the best costumes from each group. It was fun and the contest was done around 9:30 pm. After that I was so tired from the trip that we went back to our dorm for the night.
Walking through the dorm halls was like nothing I’ve seen before. Every dorm room door was completely decorated for this year’s theme! You could actually tell one assembly from the next by how the doors were decorated. This was another contest that they have each year. Some assemblies picked pink flamingos, others poodle skirts, others did ice cream cones, and some did the rock ‘n roll theme. Ohio Rainbow took up two entire dorms and one building was nine stories tall! It was so fun and festive! I didn’t get to sleep until really late because it was so fun.
Isabella
