A plaque commemorating the Jackson Jills 50th anniversary was recently installed on the steps leading up the Presidents Lawn to Ballou Hall.
The project celebrates the Jills as the oldest all-female a cappella group on campus, according to Jills alumna Tina Surh (LA 93).
The circular memorial, located a short distance away from the similar Beelzebub plaque, bears the Jackson Jills logo, along with the words 50 Years United In Song.
Jills President Emma Wise, a senior, explained that Jills alumnae, gathered for their 50th reunion last semester, decided that a plaque was an effective way to represent the groups place in Tufts culture, reinforce a shared identity and encourage participation from alumnae and current members.
It was a really cool opportunity to bring alums together even more, continue the spirit of the reunion and keep them engaged, Wise said.
Jills alumni coordinator Lucy Aziz, a junior, said that current Jills members, besides contributing money, enlisted the help of Jills alumnae in order to finance the project. Five decades of alumnae helped fund the plaque.
Aziz admitted that the medallion puts some pressure on the Jills to make sure the group continues into the future.
Now that we have physical representation of our 50 years of alums, its on us to keep that going, she said. Its a deserved pressure.
The Jackson Jills were founded in 1963, before Jackson College had integrated with Tufts University. The group has won numerous Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards and has been featured in Rolling Stone magazine. Most recently, the group appeared on CBS Boston and FOX 25 News after creating a popular music video called Closin with Koji in tribute to the Red Sox.
The Jills are deeply embedded in the history and identity of Tufts, Wise said.
The plaque says to me that this is a group ... that has so many traditions and is so rooted in the Tufts culture that it is now a physical part of the Tufts campus, she said.
Tufts Associate Director of Development Kosta Alexis, who was involved in the installation of the plaque, agreed that the Jills are a part of Tufts identity.
For me, its a group that speaks to what Tufts is, Alexis said. Its something that were happy to help celebrate. [The Jills] are such great representatives of Tufts. We want them to know that we appreciate all that they do.
Surh, who was deeply involved in creating the memorial, spoke about the Jills sisterhood.
[The plaque] is much more about the community of the Jills, she said. It is an extremely special connection that we share. It was all enabled by Tufts and being here together. This is an opportunity to celebrate that.
According to Alexis, who coordinated with Surh to contact past group members, the fact that many alumnae contributed to creating the plaque demonstrates the importance of the a cappella group to its members.
Everyone is invested in the project, Alexis said. Everyone is happy to see it. It just speaks to the group and how important it is, and how much community [they] have created.
Surh said she was happy to once again contribute to the Jills.
It is a unique, special experience to have the opportunity to participate in the Jills, she said. As an alumna, it has meant a lot to me ... to see that traditions that we started when I was a Jill are still a part of the experience today.
