The Christy Mathewson Gates greet all visitors to Bucknell's campus — a welcome that holds special meaning for Bucknell students. Each year, new students walk through the gates to begin their Bucknell journey and return to cross them again at Commencement, marking both the start and culmination of their student experience.

This year, the Class of 2025 will be the first to walk on a newly constructed brick pathway connecting the gates to the existing sidewalk alongside Dent Drive. Constructed this spring as the senior class's tribute to the University, the pathway is now in place for the graduates' final crossing at the May 18 Commencement ceremony.

"The new pathway enhances the existing historic gates, both aesthetically and functionally, and improves the overall experience for students when they process through the gates at Matriculation and Commencement," says Brian Fritz, associate director of building maintenance and projects.

Previously, students walked through the grass for these milestone moments. The pathway provides a more defined route, featuring brick pavers arranged in a herringbone pattern, and includes new landscaping around the gates. 

"A project to install a pathway at the Christy Mathewson Gates has been discussed in the past, so when the senior class asked about a pathway as one of their ideas for the class tribute, we were excited to work with them to make it happen," says Fritz.

The gates were erected in 1928 to honor Bucknellian and famed baseball player Christy Mathewson. The first class walked through them during Bucknell's New Student Orientation program in 2000 and again as graduating seniors in 2004, starting a longstanding Bucknell tradition.

The Class of 2025 officers said they felt a special connection to this tradition because several of them were assistants, leaders and coordinators in Bucknell's Orientation program. They drew inspiration from their meaningful experiences welcoming younger students to Bucknell.

"The gates are the first memory all students have as they begin their Orientation experience. Not only do the gates represent becoming a student on this campus, but a journey of their next years at Bucknell," says Gabby Segura-Suarez '25, class president. "The gates are an important part of our culture and tradition as Bucknellians, but the journey lacked an official pathway to solidify these memories."

The students intend for the pathway to support a tradition of reflection and celebration for generations of future Bucknellians.

"It is our hope that it will become a meaningful part of the Bucknell experience for years to come," says Segura-Suarez.