University traditions

submitted by Andrew J. Bethune

April 28, 2008 —

University traditions. Some are fun, some are serious, and some can be a bit edgy. SVSU students have established traditions like painting the rock, Battle of the Valleys, and pouring soap in the Gazelle Fountain. Whatever the tradition, they are significant because they help define us, become part of our collective memories, and link generations together.

The SVSU Alumni Association is, in part, in the business of honoring traditions, and occasionally developing or nurturing new ones. Most of them are serious (though when you think about it, it had to have been a future alum who came up with the fountain idea). And while it takes years before true traditions really are "owned" and honored by future generations, we always have the opportunity to begin, foster and rally around new ones. The end-of-the-school-year is when a group of SVSU students share in a time-honored tradition --- graduating and becoming SVSU alumni.

Graduation makes you part of a family of over 30,000 alumni who all share a common bond – an SVSU degree. Many have chosen to join the Alumni Association to give back. A more select group has chosen to get involved by joining the Alumni Board. This group of dedicated alumni work together to develop new opportunities to make SVSU a better place - for everyone. Our goals are to create awareness of our association, strengthen membership, support students, and create distinctive initiatives.

Our tradition of support continues. The Alumni Endowed Scholarship has shown remarkable growth in the past four years – three scholarships were awarded in 2005 -2006 as compared to 18 scholarships for our upcoming academic year. The Bob Becker Scholarship has been supported by the annual Alumni Association golf outing and continues to grow in value and distribute more scholarship dollars each year.

Our tradition of celebration continues. Homecoming is becoming a popular event for students and alumni to celebrate together. The Honorary Alumni Award recognizes someone who has cared about SVSU as if it was their own. This year we have the pleasure to honor Dr. Eldon Graham and welcome him into our family of alumni. Over the past few years we have recognized Dr. Walt Rathkamp, Dr. & Mrs. Bob (Amy) Yien, and Dr. David Weaver. This is an honor roll of people who helped develop this institution.

Our tradition outreach continues. This past fall, the Alumni Association established the first-ever Tri County Red Pride Friday, positioning SVSU as our region's home team. Our work has also contributed to Reflections magazine. Reflections celebrated its fifth issue in April and has a distribution of 50,000, which includes over 25,000 alumni. Family fun day attracts alumni families to campus and our Alumni Celebration annually recognizes successful alumni with a special awards event and celebrity entertainment. It is our commitment to keep our alumni aware of and returning for these opportunities.

Traditions evolve and so will the work of the SVSU Alumni Association. We can do more to support and engage current students and we encourage our new alumni to help us develop new ideas. We can also improve our methods of reaching out to our 30,000+ alumni. For us to succeed we ask our alumni to make a commitment by joining the Association.

Hopefully, it won't be too long before our traditions include alumni and students working together for the greater good of SVSU. So, if you see a few older folks on campus with paint brushes, bottles of dish soap and 'GVS...who' t-shirts, you'll know we are making progress.

Go Cardinals!

Andrew J. Bethune
Executive Director, SVSU Foundation