Thomasian Welcome Walk

And see Traditions of the University of Santo Tomas#Thomasian Welcome Walk.

The Thomasian Welcome Walk (TWW) is an annual event of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines.^[1] Freshmen walk through the Arch of the Centuries, a monument that served as the original doorway to the first campus of the university in Intramuros.^[2]

The Thomasian Welcome Walk
Status	Active
Frequency	Annual
Venue	University of Santo Tomas
Location(s)	Manila
Country	Philippines
Inaugurated	14 June 2002 (2002-6-14)
Most recent	2024
Attendance	7,000-10,000

Event

The tradition of passing through the Arch of the Centuries as a welcome to the freshmen community began in 2002. It was first called as "The Rites of Passage". The activities in welcoming the new students were made to complement the Baccalaureate Mass and send-off rites to the graduates at end of the school year.^[3][4][5]

The parade is followed by a mass that is usually concelebrated by the university rector.

It is a popular superstition that undergraduates should not pass through the arch the opposite way before the send-off rites because it could result in an untimely exit from the university.^[6][7]

Parade route

The parade begins from assembly areas of the different college buildings then converges on Intramuros Drive. The students enter the España Boulevard side of the arch then continues to the Rizal Lane (Lover's Lane) toward the UST Main Building.

In the early years, the parade passed through the Benavides Plaza and ended in front of the Main Building where a mass and welcoming events were held. The venues changed later on to accommodate the increased freshmen population. In years not affected by the weather, programs are held at the UST Grandstand. The route turns left before it reaches the Benavides Plaza and goes straight to the UST Grandstand. During inclement weather, the route turns right before it reaches the Benavides Plaza and ends at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.

List of walks

Date	Freshmen population	Venue of mass and programs	Ref.
June 14, 2002		In front of UST Main Building (now Plaza Mayor)	[3]
June 20, 2003	~5,000	In front of UST Main Building (now Plaza Mayor)	[8]
July 16, 2004			[9]
June 2005	Not held. Replaced by Walking Tour and Freshmen Orientation Program		[10][11]
July 21, 2006	7,302	Plaza Benavides	[11][12]
July 17, 2007	12,000	UST Grandstand	[13]
June 29, 2008		UST Grandstand and Plaza Mayor
July 24, 2009	10,500	UST Grandstand	[14]
June 23, 2010		UST Grandstand	[15]
August 5, 2011	10,000+		[16]
September 24, 2012		Quadricentennial Pavilion (in 2 batches)	[1]
June 7, 2013	11,721	UST Grandstand	[17][6]
July 11, 2014	13,049	Quadricentennial Pavilion (in 2 batches)	[18][19]
August 5, 2015	12,815	UST Grandstand	[20][21]
August 5, 2016	7,915	Quadricentennial Pavilion
August 4, 2017	6,000+ (2,000+ first-year college students, 4,000+ Grade 11 senior high school students, among others)	Quadricentennial Pavilion	[22][23] [24][25]
August 6, 2018	16,827 (12,866 first-year college, 3,433 grade 11 senior high school, among others)	Quadricentennial Pavilion	[26][27]
August 6-7, 2019	14,976 (9,909 first-year college, 1,053 graduate, 3,410 Grade 11 senior high school, among others)	Quadricentennial Pavilion (in 3 batches)	[28][29]
August 29-30, 2020, September 5-6, 2020	12,000+	Online streaming on UST Tiger TV Facebook page	[30]
August 9, 2022, August 23, 2022	8,523 college and graduate school freshmen, 2,479 Grade 11 students. The latter date is for the second and third year students.	Quadricentennial Pavilion	[31]

Virtual walk

In 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was replaced by a virtual tour of the campus with Minecraft.^[30] The virtual tour had a dedicated Minecraft server that was constructed by over 80 UST students.^[32]

The project won the “Project of the Year” award in the first-ever AcadArena Awards.^[33]

UAAP Season 79 opening

In 2016, the university hosted the UAAP Season 79 opening ceremonies in the campus. Student-athletes from all sporting disciplines of all the member schools passed through the arch. The parade moved straight to Rizal Lane, past the statue of Miguel de Benavides, and through to the Plaza Mayor. This was promptly followed by a 10-minute fireworks display from atop the Main Building.^[34][35][36]

Postponements

In 2009, the Walk was postponed for more than a month because of the cases of Influenza A(H1N1) virus in the campus.^[14] In 2012, like the previous years, the Walk was postponed several times because of bad weather. Originally scheduled on June 28, it was held on September 24 at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion. The Walk, for the first time, was divided into two batches as the venue could not accommodate all freshmen students. The first batch was held in the morning and it was participated by students from the Arts and Letters, Engineering, Commerce and Business Administration, Tourism and Hospitality Management, Science, Music, and Education High School. The Walk for the second batch took place immediately after.^[37]