“A” tradition: Programming gives USU new A-block

Every new school year is marked with something memorable, and one of this year’s memories has a special touch of Aggie spirit, with Utah State University Student Assocation Programming releasing a project they’ve worked on to give the university.

A large A-block, similar to the famous statue used for True Aggie Nights was presented at the Dancing with the Aggie Stars event on Monday night. The A-block took approximately 40 hours to complete.

“We as Programming wanted to give something back to the school because we just put our heart and soul into the events and we wanted to leave our legacy as an office. We wanted to do something that was kind of signature, memorable for years to come,” said Sawyer Hemsley, USUSA Programming Vice President.

There are high hopes that this will be an emblem of USU spirit and will be able to bring students together of all classes and also help welcome new freshmen in.

“We wanted it to be similar to the block A outside but this would be at all the events so students can be like, ‘Hey! We’re new students! Let’s go take a picture by the A.’ or use it as a hashtag project, so we will put our hashtag for the year in the office and people can take pictures,” Hemsley said, “Maybe even a new tradition will form around it, like kissing on the A outside, but something different. I think that people will appreciate the tradition we are trying to create around it,” Hemsley said.

Nathan Booth, a senior majoring in civil engineering headed the A-block project along with his wife, Shantell Booth as well as Chad Pickup, Ryan Childs, Josh Jensen and the Longhurst family.

The block is made of wood and is eight feet by eight feet.

“I think it will be one more thing to go along with the traditions here at USU. It is large but mobile and you can take it anywhere. It could be good for recruiting,” Booth said.

Students at the event when the A block was revealed were impressed by the presentation.

Freshman Ashli Jones said, “I think it’s awesome. I think it represents a lot of traditions at Utah State. It will become a fun way to show how much we love our Aggies and our school.”

— roniastephen@gmail.com