Thomasian Welcome Walk

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

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]

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.

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 college freshmen, 1,053 graduate school freshmen, 3,410 Grade 11, 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 (2nd and 3rd year students)	8,523 college and graduate school freshmen 2,479 Grade 11 students	Quadricentennial Pavilion	[31]
August 4, 2023 (Basic Education) August 5, 2023 (Higher Education)	9,450 college and graduate school freshmen 2,920 Grade 11 students	Quadricentennial Pavilion	[32]
August 5, 2024 (Higher Education, Manila) August 7, 2024 (Basic Education) August 29, 2024 (GenSan)	13,500 high school students, college and graduate school freshmen (Manila) 126 college freshmen (GenSan)	Quadricentennial Pavilion (Manila) In front of UST GenSan Main Building (GenSan)	[33]
August 6, 2025 (Higher Education, Manila) August 7, 2025 (Basic Education) August 20, 2025 (GenSan)	10,381 college and graduate school freshmen (Manila) 2,920 Grade 11 students 213 college freshmen (GenSan)	Quadricentennial Pavilion In front of UST GenSan Main Building (UST GenSan)	[34]

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.^[35]

The project won the “Project of the Year” award in the first-ever AcadArena Awards.^[36]