Northwest Missouri State University - Tower Yearbook (Maryville, MO)

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Band alarm Annual pep mu sic continues walkout day tradition. hy N egQn Heuer The click of ' a drumstick started the fight song as the Bearcat Marching Band played outside residence halls in the wee hours of the morning signaling the traditional Homecoming Walkout Day. The hand began Walkout Day preparation around 4 a.m. when they walked to every resident hall and performed pep music. Residents from each hall reacted differently to the wake- up call. They yell some obscenities, third year member Rudy Coke said. They yell a lot of stuff or sometimes they cheer. It just depends on how drunk they are and hov ' soon they just got to bed. Some students threw more than comments out the window as the band blasted their musical reveille toward the windows ot sleeping students. We ' ve seen eggs, we ' ve seen water balloons, we ' ' e seen tresh fruit and everything else. We ' ve seen it all, fifth year member Kip Pierpoint said. Fifth year member Samara Gilgower said to bring it on. Things flying out the window were not a big deal to her. Gilgower once saw a naked guy run through Hudson Hall as they performed on Walkout Day. The band made their morning march an annual event more than 15 years ago when it used to be a drumline. As years went by, other band students chose to join the morning march. It ' s tradition, Pierpoint said. You ' ve got to follow tradition. It ' s something everybody has done all the years completed up to us. We got to keep it going. Walkout Day officially began when Student Body President Emily Dix rang the Bell of ' 48 at 8:30 a.m., Oct. 17. The bell first rang tor Walkout Day in 1915 at an unexpected time and students wijuld get up and walk out ot their classes. The chime signaled a day of picnics, games and the end of a five-week hazing period all freshmen endured. We had to wear a green beanie with our name across the bill on it, as freshman, and every time we met an M-Ciub member you had to kneel and put your finger on the button, Family and Consumer Science Professor Frances Shipley said. In 1960, after years of wearing green and white beanies around campus, a few freshmen sawed off the bell clapper and held it until Student Body President Dale Cramer promised to end freshmen ha-ing. Cramer threatened to rc ' oke Walkout Day it the clapper was not returned. Students returned it because no one wanted to give up Walkout Day. Six students later kidnapped and kept Cramer in an abandoned farmhouse. Before he was freed, they locked him in a broom closet at the Nodaway County Courthouse. As punishment for kidnapping the president, upperclassmen shaved letters to spell out Bearcat into the back of the perpetrators ' heads. The next year, Student Senate President Joe Merrigan announced the abolishment of hazing, but kept beanies and Walkout Day. Walkout Day became nonexistent in 197 1 because students went off campus for entertainment at various bars rather than participating in campus activities. Joe Toker Daze substituted Walkout Day. Organized activities such as Frisbee contests, car packing contests and concerts were held. A combination of Joe Toker Daze and a day of preparation for Homecoming events reinstated Walkout Day in 1977. My understanding of it is that it went from something that was unexpected to now something that is very much expected. People certainly look forward to that and schedule that all in, Communication, Theatre, and Languages Professor Theophil Ross said. After years of indecision, Walkout Day became a tradition that outlasted many generations. Traditions are very important. They reinforce our sense of identity, University President Dean Hubbard said. We rang the hell 26 times because it ' s the 26th time it ' s been rung. It reminds us of students of the past. With drums booming anJ homs hlanng, Harry H.imhhn. jeremv Meyer Pti.hp Shull and Kent Peirpolnl m.irch from Perrm H,.ll t.. HuJ-on Hall in lh wee hours if Walkout Day. phwu h ' IVrj.M Ouodm: WaCka.Jif Oa

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Varietv 6how Olio Acts 1. Fat Guys Need Love Too 2. Jeremy Meyer 2. For What It ' s Worth. 4for1 3. hley Girl. Tom Parkin and Richard Fisher Skit ■ Highly Competitive 1. Mardi Gras Charlie Brown. Phi Mu Alpha 2. Behind the Mascot, Phi Sigma Kappa and Alpha Sigma Alpha 3. The Bearcat Tango, Delta Chi and Sigma Kappa Skit • Competitive 1. Bobby Missing in Mardi Gras, Kappa Sigma and Sigma Alpha lota People ' s Choice Awards Best Actor - Nic Vasquez Best Actress - Billy Dexheimer Skit - Phi Mu Alpha Olio - Tom Parkin and Richard Fisher Standing outside Roberta Hall at 5 a.m, band memheis Michelle Thomas and Amanda Atkins play their mellophones in the traditional HomecommB Walkc uit event, Even though it was really early, I had a blast. phMo K Thresa CVJnu At 8:30 a.m. Umvetsity President Dean Hubbard and Student Senate President Emily Di.x nng the Bell of ' 48, signifying Walkmt Day. A small group of students and alumni gathered to witness the 27-year-nld xradiuon. phow by Theresa Chuximi k SIHIIBIIHSa II

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c Float - Highly Competitive 1. Delta Chi and Phi Mu. Rourbon Street Bobby 2. Phi Sigma Kappa and Delta Zeta, Bobby Visits Prehistoric Mardi Gras 3. Alpha Gamma Rho and Sigma Kappa, Road Trip to Mardi Gras Float • Competitive 1. Sigma Society, Mardi Gras Party Pontoon 2. South Complex and Franken and Phillips halls, Balcony on Bourbon Street 3. International Student Organization, Rhapsody of Carnivals Jalopies 1. Residence Hall Association 2. Equestrian Team 3. Amnesty International (Supremacy honoreS Fraternity Phi Sigma Kappa Sorority Alpha Sigma Alpha Competitive Sigma Society Determinati nn prCVailS loaL wiiiiici; backed bv by Theresa Chiodini hard work. A deep sense ot appreciation and accomplishment welled up in members ot L -lta Chi and Phi Mu as judges announced Oct. 19 that the two organizations won the Homecoming float contest. 1 jumped up and down because I was so excited, Phi Mu co-ch ur Amand.i Root said. I was shaking and had tears in my eyes, and at the same time, 1 was kind of in shock that we had actually won. At the beginning, co-chairs Root and Scott Griffin appeared confident. 1 felt we had a lot to prove as a chapter, to the community and to ourselves, Grittin said. SiHin after the construction and pomping began, they found out the projeci would be more involved than anyone thought. When we first started it, we thought we were way ahead of it, but once we got into it, we realized there was so much more to do, Root said. Most of the Greeks working on the float supported it, including Phi Mu Nicole Orrell, calling it a good, creative idea, although Root had a different perspective. The theme ' s not very broad, Root said. I thought we were doing somethini; original, hut then I heard about some of the other float ideas, and 1 realized everyone ' s working with the same things - jesters, beads and dragons. Root believed it was going to boil down to who did the most with the same ideas, and it would have nothing to do with originality. The float chairs ' minds changed during the last week as everything came together. Now we just have small touch-ups to do, minor things, Root said with three workdays left. Since it ' s crunch time we gotta get it done. I ' m not really that stressed out though. In the end, the Greeks involved gained more out of the experience than simplv the honor of being chosen as the best float. All the hard work and determination put into this project finally paid off, Griffin said. To feel the gratitude from members of these two chapters, and that of the community as well, is probably one of the most fulfilling experiences I think 1 could have as a Northwest Missouri State student. Delta Chi and rhi Mu memhers huilJ the skfleton ,.t their float. The two group- -rent ,,K.,it to weeks consrnjcting and pomping the tloast before Homecoming weekend, photu hy TheTem Chiudmi Matt Robb paints the float with the first coat of pnmer the week before Homecoming. Robb, a Delta Chi pledge, spent most . if hi-, time working i n the tl. :U the last few davs before the parade, phr w hy Tht-rc Chi,dm J6- 4 u OB ' WeCOkMlMc j j- g j Tf - ' ,1 f- :fi ' iJT ! T :S r ' ? J ' liiliilf iliil nil ' i ■ r .?ffi sg