This school year SUU administrators have generated and maintained traditions for the benefit of students which they hope will last for years to come.
Executive Director of Alumni Relations Mindy Benson said that traditions such as the True T-Bird night and the newly instituted Carter Carillon freshman initiation are what link students to the founders and give them an idea of what this school is really about.
She said when the True T-Bird night was instituted, they choose the Founder’s Monument as the place to have it and it has stuck ever since. Old Sorrel is the tradition which connects the students to the founders of the school.
Benson said Homecoming and Founders’ Day traditions are ones that mean a lot to the community. However, not many of the students take part in them. One of her department’s goals will be to push students to remember the great history SUU possesses.
‘One thing we are doing is educating students what the history of the institution is,’ Benson said.
She said some of their plans are to work with the alumni and the community to add to the special collections that are housed in Old Main.
Educating students will be an important part of their work. Retired faculty will work with new faculty to teach them more about the history of this institution, and tours by alumni around campus to teach students about its history.’
‘The people of Cedar City have done spectacular triumphs year after year, decade after decade and they have always rose to the challenge. The future of Cedar city rests here in its institution of higher learning,’ Gerald R. Sherratt Former Cedar City’ Mayor and President Emeritus of SUU said.
He said that he is proud of his three years at the old Branch Agricultural College.
‘This school has turned out some extraordinary people,’ Sherratt said.
The Carter Carillon freshman initiation tradition began this year to welcome freshman to the school, Benson said. The way it works is the new students walk through the bell tower their first day of school and they are to walk around it as a sign of respect until the day of their graduation.
‘We can become what we want to be but we got to decide today if you want to get through the easiest possible way we all know how to do it. But the real entrance way to life is to challenge yourself and do the very best you can,’ Sherratt said.Benson also recalled a discontinued tradition dealing with a wooden spoon.
She said the tradition was done by her father Ken Benson, who worked as director of student activities, but has been discontinued since his retirement.
Benson said the tradition was at the beginning of the year, where her father would knight the student body president with a wooden spoon that is too long to serve yourself at the dinner table and therefore can only be used to serve others.
Benson took over her fathers position a few years after his retirement in 1982 and has been able to carry on the family work.
‘I got to carry on his legacy,’ Benson said. ‘He cared and fought for the students.’
Ron Cardon associate director of alumni relations said that the community sacrificed so much for the founding of this school, it is important that students become acquainted with the history of the school.
‘The past is so important,’ Cardon said. ‘It shows us where we came from and where we can go.’
