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WELLESLEY, Mass.
-- Nandita Ahmed, a cinema and media studies major from
Dhaka, Bangladesh, is the winner of this morning's 109th
annual hoop-rolling competition at Wellesley College. Ahmed,
who will graduate on May 28, was met at the finish line
by Wellesley College President Diana Chapman Walsh (herself
the winner of the 1966 hoop-rolling contest), who presented
Ahmed with a bouquet of flowers.
In keeping with
tradition, Ahmed was promptly propelled by her classmates
to the edge of Lake Waban and tossed into the chilly water.
Traditionally, the winner of the contest, which first began
in 1895, was said to be the first in her class to marry.
These days, victory is seen as a sign that the winner will
be the first to achieve success, however she defines it.
In another tradition,
Ahmed's "little sisters," juniors Seema Rathod and Minakshi
Biswas and sophomore Zafrin Rahman, arrived at the starting
line early Saturday before the race began to assure Ahmed
a prime spot.
At Wellesley,
Ahmed has been active in the Slater International student
organization and the Wellesley Association of South Asian
Cultures.
Nearly 200 Wellesley
College seniors, most dressed in academic gowns, made this
morning's 1/4 mile dash, rolling old-fashioned wooden hoops
in a race to the finish line.
Since
1875, Wellesley College has been a leader in providing an
excellent liberal-arts education for women who will make
a difference in the world. Its 500-acre campus near Boston
is home to 2,300 undergraduate students from all 50 states
and 68 countries. For more information, go to http://www.wellesley.edu/.
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