The start of Walla Walla University’s 2024-25 school year is drawing closer, and with it, promises of exciting events and unique opportunities, many of them planned by the Associated Student of Walla Walla University (ASWWU). Lorelei Harbour, president of ASWWU, shared a look into this year’s student leaders and their developing plans.

ASWWU’s staple events like banquets, Battle of the Bands, Barn Party, and the ongoing outdoors trips will all be returning to campus. However, Harbour also mentioned how ASWWU social vice president, Caleb Shirinzadeh, has been dreaming up fun events to pop up in between the classics throughout the year. She said, “I highly recommend people pay attention to any announcements for those and check out what is coming up!”

Thanks to ASWWU web head Riley Smith, students can also look forward to the return of the Mask, a virtual student directory that allows students to make their own profiles. It has been down for a couple of years, so both Smith and Harbour are very excited about bringing this long-time tradition back to WWU within the next couple of weeks.

Smith has been re-working the ASWWU web page as well as the Mask, to ensure it can be more helpful for students. Once all adjustments have been made, aswwu.com will be the best place to go for everything ASWWU: from The Collegian issues, to event photos, to department information and job openings.

The rest of the ASWWU department heads have been confirmed and are preparing for everyone's return to campus. Harbour said, “They are all really excited to start meeting with their teams and bring exciting things to the students!” Even from the few initial ASWWU meetings, Harbour noticed the abundance of creativity flowing between the department heads and is really excited for the whole year to come.

As freshmen are introduced to campus during Jumpstart week and students begin to make their way back to campus, ASWWU’s department heads will be at Camp Touchet for the annual leadership retreat. This event is put on by the Chaplain’s Office to bring together student leaders and set their eyes on building faith across campus. It helps each student leader better understand their roles for the year and how to lead in the way of God: Harbour said, “It's an important place to get to know your team while learning more about how we can best support each other and the student body at Walla Walla.”

This year, Harbour and executive vice president Luke Ganson will be leading ASWWU efforts alongside 14 other department heads. The organization regularly employs over 100 students, making them well-equipped to successfully pull off more than 30 highly varied events each year. 

Be sure to find ASWWU this weekend at Welcome Back Bash to check out any job listings or senate applications! To stay up to date on all ASWWU events throughout the year, be sure to follow them on Instagram @aswwu.

Posted Sept. 27, 2024