Virginia Castleman made the following entry in her diary in January 1899:

I was wondering lately why my Alma Mater has no special anthem.  Is it because she is yet so young - only seven years old? or because no poet has risen from her ranks to honor her in song? May this year of grace, 1899, bring its own inspiration!

Two months later, she wrote the following:

The inspiration came, for days it overshadowed me, to the detriment of study or any other claims.  As I was dressing, trying to remember the accession numbers scheduled for the day's library work, without premeditation came the words...

She then wrote the lyrics for what became the Drexel Ode, a variation of which has been performed at all Drexel commencement ceremonies since 1899.  Castleman then recounted how the song came to be sung at the 1899 commencement, she wrote:

I left my poetic effusion at the office, in care of Mac [James MacAlister, president of Drexel from 1891-1913], the interested caretaker, who locked my precious paper in the office drawer, promising to call it to the attention of his master.  Not many days thereafter, I received a favorable reply.  My verses are to be set to music by our Institute organist, and sung at the commencement...strange shyness of publicity overwhelms me.

The above quotes from Castleman's diary were taken from a history of the Drexel Institute published in 1941.  The original diary was once part of the Drexel Collection, a collection of materials now divided between the University Archives and the Drexel Museum.  The current whereabouts of the original diary are unknown. 

PDF version of program

Program from sixth annual commencement ceremonies.  The 1899 commencement marked the first time that the student body heard the Drexel Ode, referred to here as "Hail! Drexel Institute."