A-Day an evolving celebration
One day each year students were excused from classes. They rolled up their sleeves and pant legs and got to work. That was A-Day between the 1910s and 1950s.
In Student Alumni Association President Shane Larsen’s office is a box filled with black and white photographs. These pictures show A-Days gone by, one of which shows students, decked out in vests, slacks and ties, lined up in front of Old Main to dig a shallow trench for a new cement sidewalk.
A-Day stopped sometime in the 1950s, according to an article in the The Cache Citizen, published May 13, 1987, the day after A-Day was revived at Utah State University. Back then, Mark Holland, former SAA president, said he was excited to revive a USU tradition.
Larsen, a senior majoring in liberal arts and sciences, said when SAA started in the 1980s, the five executive council members dug up traditions like A-Day and true Aggie nights and reintroduced them to USU.
Since 1987, when A-Day was marked by one tent on the Quad with signs proclaiming the day, it has evolved and grown into a week of service opportunities, Larsen said.
He said the theme of this year’s A-Week (to be held Monday through Friday) is Carpe Diem, Latin for “Seize the Day” and will feature service activities each day.
Monday offers students a service project in The Hub from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. where they can help assemble hygiene kits to be sent to countries lacking certain resources. Larsen said the kits will include toothpaste, a toothbrush, a shaving kit, soap and shampoo.
Tuesday will give students the chance to enjoy lunch time a little more with a Nooner, or noon concert on the Taggart Student Center patio. A service project will take place that night and the activities will culminate with a midnight toga fun run.
Wednesday will be the senior send-off, an event usually taking place the week of graduation. Prizes, music and food will be available for the party. Larsen said it will be held in the Stan Laub Training Center and is the first event of its kind to be held there.
“It makes A-Week that much bigger,” Larsen said.
Thursday will be a student golf tournament and a concert in the TSC Ballroom given by Colors and Eclipse.
Friday is the crowning day of A-Week and is known as A-Day. There will be a dance on the TSC patio from 9 p.m. to midnight. True Aggie night will commence at midnight.
Marcus Winn, a sophomore majoring in finance, said USU is seeking the record again for the most kissing couples on true Aggie night. Instead of the Guiness Book of World Records sending representatives to USU, Winn said in order to qualify a detailed count of people must be made.
“They [also] want an overhead [film] shot of the crowd,” Winn said.
He also said approximately 2,000 couples will be needed to achieve the record.
Larsen said before the ‘A’ was built for kissing couples in 1917, they used to congregate in the clock tower to kiss.
“I guess the fire marshall didn’t like that,” Larsen said laughing.
However, Larsen said the point of A-Week is to serve.
“[About two months ago], I spoke with one of the first presidents of SAA. He was very adamant about making sure as the size of A-Day increases, people remember it’s for service,” he said.
Larsen said last year’s big service activity was tearing out the weathered, wooden bleachers from Romney Stadium to be replaced with stronger, aluminum bleachers. He said this year SAA is evaluating the possibility of creating a stone-step walkway on the south side of 400 North and memorializing A-Day by having the stones etched with the words “A-Day 2002” and the date. As always, student help is welcome.
“The more people the better,” Larsen said.