After a barbecue and Convocation on Monday evening, students began classes on Tuesday, September 7. The week was filled with a lot of back-to-school activities including the Harry Widener Swim Test. In the 1930s, the construction of the Widener Science Building and Widener Arts and Crafts Building was made possible by gifts made to The Hill by Mrs. Alexander Hamilton Rice in memory of her son, Harry Elkins Widener, Hill class of 1903, who died aboard the Titantic, along with his father, in 1912. According to Hill legend, a stipulation of Mrs. Rice’s gift was that all students new to The Hill needed to pass a swim test before leaving the School. This legend has become a Hill tradition, and, each year during the first week of school, new students report to the Cunningham Pool in Sweeney Gymnasium for their swim tests.
Weekend activities included The Hill Carnival with with an ESP and psychic show on Saturday and the Volleyball Challenge on Sunday.