On March 27, the Arts Quad transformed into a spectacle of color and noise as a large, student-built dragon made its way across campus. Surrounded by cheering crowds, first-year architecture students celebrated the culmination of weeks of hard work, bringing to life one of Cornell’s most spirited traditions.
The parade marked the 125th Dragon Day, an annual student-led Cornell tradition, dating back to approximately 1901, where first-year architecture students design and build a large-scale dragon and parade it around campus.
“We don't get support from teachers, and we don't get any money from Cornell,” Adam Sheena ’30, a first-year architecture student, said. “It's completely our own project.”
First-year students are responsible for determining the theme, purchasing the materials, fundraising for the materials, constructing the dragon and moving the dragon across campus.
Sheena served as the Dragon Lord this year, an elected position that oversees the production and creation of the dragon. He worked alongside the 15-person electoral board selected by the architecture freshmen to manage subteams for his 80-person class, including construction, advertising, sustainability and finances.
“It's been a huge learning opportunity,” Sheena said. “It's taught me when it's important to intervene and when it's important to let things go on their own.”
Classmates Masai Hack ’30, construction lead, and Minjoo Song ’30, treasurer, told The Sun that the brainstorming process for the dragon’s theme required immense cooperation. After several meetings, the team agreed upon this year’s theme: “veiled.”
“We're using tension elements, which are these fabric pieces that we stretch over the frame to create unique shapes,” Sheena said. “The idea is to create this kind of veil of fabric to build this cover, like something is hidden underneath.”
Since the design and construction of the dragon is determined by the class, the students made several iterations to the structure and fabric choice, ensuring that everyone’s ideas were incorporated in their final dragon.
“The dragon is a representation of everyone,” Sheena said. “It’s totally a collaboration of ideas between everyone on the team.”
Students worked from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. during the week leading up to Dragon Day, but they prepared for the event for more than a month.
“I don't think any of us have ever done a project to this scale,” Hack said. “Everything needs to happen at the same time to make sure that everyone's on the same page.”
Leading up to Dragon Day, students participated in promotional activities like the “Nerd Walk” — dressing in costumes and holding up signs to reflect the spirited and creative nature of architecture students.
Beyond administrative work and internal collaboration, Dragon Day ultimately reflects the accomplishment of the individuals behind it.
“In class, we're making designs and making models, but we never get to see something full scale,” Hack said. “Participating in Dragon Day gets my design ideas out there, and then I will be able to say that the final design is something that I got to work on.”
Although the process was challenging, Lola Díaz-Suarez ’30 believes that the Dragon Day preparation brought her class closer together.
Díaz-Suarez told the Sun that her favorite part of Dragon Day was connecting with her entire class and celebrating their achievements leading up to the event.
Additionally, students told The Sun that Dragon Day is a great way for architecture students to share their work with the greater Cornell community.
“Cornell architecture is a little bit secluded compared to the rest of the colleges, especially because we just spend so much time in the studio, just slaving away at our desks,” Sheena said. “The fact that we can go out and parade around the entire campus .. have everyone come out and see and shout us on, really breaks the barrier [between colleges].”
The parade began at Rand Hall, marched onto Feeney Way, Campus Road and Ho Plaza and before ending on the Arts Quad. After that, the dragon faced-off a phoenix constructed by the Engineering school.
“We're winning this year for the 125th year in a row,” Hack predicted.
Elizabeth Chow is a member of the Class of 2029 in the Brooks School of Public Policy. She is a contributor for the News department and can be reached at ec977@cornell.edu.
