One of many long-held traditions at MICDS is to throw the first senior accepted into college into Polk Pond. Camille Henderson ’22 was this year’s lucky admit based on her acceptance into Iowa Wesleyan University. So, as tradition goes, Camille was tossed into the pond by classmates while Upper Schoolers, faculty, friends, and family cheered her on.
In the sixties, the pond toss began as a tradition at Country Day School, though it wasn’t always tied to college admissions. Incidents of students falling or being thrown into the pond were occasionally noted in the Country Day News in the 1950s and early 1960s. But it was not until the spring of 1964 that the first tradition of taking the plunge was formally established.