One of the most cherished traditions for John Carroll students, both past and present, was born out of necessity. The origins of Christmas Carroll Eve go back over 50 years, and its founding can be attributed to the university’s ski club.
In the late 1960s, a group of JCU students who were avid skiers wanted to form a university-sanctioned club. In order to gain a charter and become officially recognized by the university, all groups were required to perform some form of community service or event.
According to John Cunningham ’76, the founding members of the ski club decided to organize an evening where students would sing Christmas carols in the community in order to compete with other collegiate ski clubs. Those ski enthusiasts inadvertently became the founding members of Christmas Carroll Evening, as it was referred to back in 1968 during its inception.
