Bryn Mawr College continued its tradition of Lantern Night on October 24, but this year the lanterns were created by a new maker for the first time in decades, writes the Bryn Mawr College News.

Lantern Night is a ceremony held on an evening in late October where first-year students gather and sophomores present lanterns to them in their class color. This stands to symbolically pass on the light of knowledge from one class to the other.

Once metal fabricator Kurt Schenk and family – a rural Pennsylvania outfit – stepped down from the annual lantern production, the college set out on the hunt for a new manufacturer who would make sure that the first-semester tradition continued without a hitch.

Nova Industrial Arts, a New Jersey architectural metal and sign company, stepped up to the challenge despite this being a bit outside of their usual comfort zone.

“This is a production item, which is different than a lot of what we do – we typically do ones or twos of an item – and it’s a small-scale thing,” said Nova’s chief operating officer Corey Kennedy. “So yeah, it doesn’t fit exactly what we do, but if we can do it here locally, I think it’s a great opportunity for our community and for the Bryn Mawr community.”

Read more about Lantern Night at Bryn Mawr College in the Bryn Mawr College News.