Student Leadership Initiative

Redesigning The Brick and Starting the Traditions Keeper

Andy Walsh recalls his role in revamping The Brick and starting the Tradition memento keeper.

Interview on 2014-06-06 00:00:00 -0400

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Transcript

00:00:00.000 It was going to be put in all the orientation bags, it was going to be one of the first things that they saw, and it was going to talk about all the traditions and history at the university.
00:00:07.300 On top of that, we were adding a new component, the Traditions Keeper aspect, to the book,
00:00:15.342 so when you're going through there's places to put your mementoes, your pictures, ticket stubs, things that you picked up during your time as a student,
00:00:25.377 and you would put them in the book and it would become your memory book from your time at State.
00:00:33.751 Our goal was, you know, in twenty or thirty years you could pull it out and you could show it to your kids and show it to your family and reflect back on what a great experience you had getting involved in all of the traditions.
00:00:44.240 Our thought process too was we recognize at a big university with thirty-five thousand students not everybody's going to be involved in tons of student organizations, not everybody's going to be in student government, not everybody's going to know about everything going on on campus,
00:00:59.392 and for the students that just wanted to be in their residence hall playing video games, or just wanted to do the social thing, we wanted them to have access and to get involved, at least if they were going to get involved on campus to do the traditions,
00:01:14.477 because in twenty years those were going to be the great memories that they could look back and say that's what makes NC State so special, going to Campout, or going to Shack-A-Thon, or doing the Krispy Kreme Challenge.
00:01:25.228 So we pushed ahead with that project full steam and we finished it and it was the first year that we did the Tradition Keeper program. It's still going on to this day.
00:01:40.785 It's something that I love, seeing students going and getting their Bricks checked, and if you do forty of the traditions in The Brick I think one of the great things is there's a reward in getting a medal for graduation,
00:01:50.831 and there's not too many student medals out there. So there's that additional incentive for getting involved, for not just sitting in your residence or letting four years pass by
00:02:02.988 and not understanding what makes the place that you're spending your college experience with so great.
00:02:09.306 So I think that book, and watching freshmen open it up and read it for the first time at their orientation, I think that kind of gives a first impression to those individuals who, like me, didn't have a big college background,
00:02:26.486 aren't legacies of the university. They understand that traditions are important to us and the things that make NC State special, we're hoping that those will continue to make NC State special because they're going to participate and grow those activities,
00:02:41.301 and I think it's made a huge impact and is something that I'm glad orientation is continuing to partner with student government in really providing that tangible product.

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