Candles lined the sidewalks as students, faculty, and families arrived to Kresge Auditorium on Saturday evening.

The Bonner Scholars lit the Green Center for Performing Arts block with luminaries Saturday evening for the School of Music’s Holiday Gala.

Luminaries have accompanied holiday programs on campus before the Bonners played a role. 

“The Bonner Scholars were founded at DePauw in 1993, so this would have been prior to that,” said Jayne Williams, biology professor and early coordinator of the program. 

In its early days, the luminary program was a combined effort of the campus and the community.  Organizations were assigned an area of campus in which to place luminaries.  Sidewalks all around campus, in front of the president’s house, as well as in front of the fraternities and sororities were all lined.

Headley Hardware would provide discounted sand to fill the bags and Facilities Management would loan golf carts for both placement and clean up the following day.

Over 5,000 luminaries were placed each year.  The program was then called the “5,000 Lights Luminaria.”

Students behind on their community service hours would log time filling the bags.  It took years for the program to become a “service to the campus” event for the Bonners.

Each year, the Bonner Senior Intern is responsible for the coordination of the event.  The student must order supplies, organize fellow Bonners to do the prep work, and coordinate details with the School of Music.

As the years have gone on, the primary responsibility for the luminaries has fallen solely on the Bonner Scholars.  Jean Everage, former program coordinator, said, “part of the reason was the programs we were paired with were held on a Saturday night, and it conflicted with Greek formals.”

No matter the weather conditions on the weekend of the event, Bonner Scholars come together to line the sidewalks.

Present coordinator of the Bonner program, Jessie Scott, said the idea behind the luminaries is, “creating a welcome environment for community members who come on campus for the Holiday Gala.”

Sophomore Bonner Scholar, Kainat Akmal, likes the luminaries because, “it gives Bonners a direct way to give back to the community during the holiday season.”