If you were lakeside at Promontory Point before sunrise on Friday, Jan. 13, you would have seen a crowd of spirited UChicago College students braving the morning wind and cold to greet the winter sun.
Having trekked to the shore of Lake Michigan from the comfort of their nearby campus dorms, these students were participating in Kuvia, a College tradition that aims to foster joy and camaraderie during the academic year’s coldest months.
After a week of 6:30 a.m. check-ins at Henry Crown Field House, followed by yoga, workshops and bagels, the students who had successfully made it through all the first four days were determined to reap the final rewards of bragging rights and an exclusive t-shirt.
Kuvia has brought the College’s student body together in celebration every winter since 1983. This year’s Kuvia was highly anticipated, as it marked both the festival’s 40th anniversary and the return of in-person activities for the first time since 2020. After two years of remote runs due to COVID-19, students, alumni and staff were finally able to gather in-person once again to get their blood moving, in solidarity, before dawn.
“The return to fully in-person Kuvia was exciting," said Harper Schwab, a second-year in the College. “I was prepared for the diverse range of activities, but I didn’t expect the sheer size of the event. It was really exciting to go with my house and make split-second decisions each day on which workshop to do.”
The word Kuvia is derived from the Inuit word Kuviasungnerk, meaning the “pursuit of happiness,” and originally referred to the week-long series of events throughout the day that the offices of College Orientation and Student Activities planned to make Winter Quarter more memorable for students. Once affectionately called “Nerk Week,” it included movie nights, informal lectures on wintry subjects presented by faculty members, cross-country ski races on the Midway, and ice fishing in Botany Pond.
For the more athletically inclined, early morning exercises were held in Henry Crown Field House the same week; this event was originally referred to as Kangeiko, a term borrowed from a form of Japanese martial arts training conducted in mid-winter meant to improve skills and discipline one’s mind. Over the years, Kuviasungnerk and Kangeiko slowly merged together to eventually become what we know and love today as Kuvia.
Kuviasungnerk/Kangeiko was originally created by the late former Dean of the College Donald Levine, who passed away in 2015, and several of his colleagues in 1983 to replace the annual first-year student trip to Green Lake, Wis. Levine believed that education should cultivate the body as well as the mind, which Kuvia honors through its exploration of physical activities that stimulate both.
“You can’t change the weather, but you can change your perception of it,” Levine once said. “We wanted to blast away winter doldrums with some fun.”
Kuvia is now hosted by the student-run organization Council on University Programming (COUP) and takes place during the second week of Winter Quarter each year. It features stretches led by faculty members and physical activity-based workshops led by a range of Recognized Student Organizations (RSOs). Students who wake up on time and participate for all five days are rewarded with the coveted t-shirt—designed this year by fourth-year Non Charoenwattananon—once they make their Friday treks to the Point and back.
COUP offers large-scale, engaging, and entertaining events to the UChicago community, many of which have become synonymous with the UChicago social culture over the years. These include Snow Ball, the Summer Breeze Carnival, and especially Kuvia, which COUP has carried on ever since its formation in 1994.
“Kuvia is a celebration of not just winter, but of the very essence of UChicago culture,” said fourth-year Caroline Webber, the chair of COUP. “It’s people coming together to dedicate themselves no matter the time, and no matter the weather. The reward of Kuvia is not a t-shirt or bragging rights—the reward of Kuvia is the ability to weave oneself into a tapestry of UChicago sentimentality that is now in its 40th year.”
COUP put together a successful event with an impressive turnout of almost 500 students this year, far more than anyone had anticipated.
“This was my first in-person Kuvia, so I had no clue what to expect,” said Angelysse Madsen, the third-year co-chair of COUP. “Considering how we only had around 300 students participate online last year, we were pretty overwhelmed at times. However, I still had a great time and can’t wait to host this again next year.”
Morning stretches, known formally as sun salutations, were led by familiar UChicago faculty and staff members, including Resident Deans William Nickell and Maryse Meijer from Renee Granville-Grossman Residential Commons, Resident Deans Jason and Suzanne Riggle from Max Pavlesky Residential Commons and Kagan Arik from the Turkish Language program and martial arts club Ki-Aikido.
University President Paul Alivisatos made a special appearance on Wednesday morning as a guest stretch leader. He said he was quite impressed to see how many students were participating, and expressed interest in taking part again next year. Students were excited by President Alivisatos’ presence as well, lining up to grab a selfie with him as soon as they finished their stretches.
After warming up, students split into workshops led by a total of 30 different RSOs over the course of the week. In sessions lasting about 45 minutes, they received crash courses in a mix of athletic and creative, physical and non-physical activities.
Ki Aikido Club and Off-Off Campus, both longtime guests of Kuvia, presented workshops on Monday. Popular Tuesday workshops included Maya, who taught a short yet upbeat choreography sequence, and Wushu, where students learned how to perform a number of martial arts moves. On Wednesday, more than half of participants joined UChicago Origami in learning how to fold paper cranes. Programming then closed out on Thursday with appearances from Swing Dance Society, neXus Dance, Taekwondo, and Vox Circus.
“My favorite workshop at Kuvia was the Wushu workshop,” said first-year student David Hall. “I thought the stretches felt great in addition to the sun salutations, and I learned how to do a tornado kick!”
Finally, on Friday, students followed the venerable Kuvia Polar Bear to Promontory Point for their last series of sun salutations. Though it was one of the coldest days in the season, students took their time greeting the sunrise on the icy ledge.
The final major highlight of the week was the arrival of Dean Boyer, who joined the procession on his bike. He expressed his joy to see so many students up and celebrating on a brisk winter morning, and took the time to snap photos with students to commemorate their five-day journey.