Charter Day Weekend 2025 is almost here!

By Kelvin Childs

The two-day event, consisting of Charter Day Convocation and Charter Day Dinner, commemorates the March 2, 1867, signing of the charter that established Howard University.

Put on your finery and your dancing shoes for Charter Day Dinner, the annual bash that celebrates the best of Howard while raising money for scholarships for our wonderful students. It’s Saturday, March 1 at Marriott Marquis Washington DC. Tickets are available here. Better yet, sponsor a student and let her or him experience the wonder of the evening.

During Charter Day Dinner, four illustrious Howard graduates will receive the 2025 Alumni Award for Distinguished Postgraduate Achievement: Nelson Leon Adams; Sunny Sumter; Donald Thigpen, Jr.; and Christopher Tyson. Learn more about them here.

Also, a Howard employee will receive the LaRue V. Barkwell Capstone Distinguished Service Award. This honor goes to an individual who embodies exemplary dedication and provides superlative service to the University. The honoree was nominated by President Ben Vinson III, PhD and approved by the Board of Trustees.

The Charter Day Dinner follows the 158th Charter Day Convocation, Friday, Feb. 28 at Cramton Auditorium. The Charter Day Convocation assembles all of Howard — students, faculty, staff, alumni and the administration — in a reverential but joyful celebration of its history and existence.