University of Arizona - The Desert Yearbook

“in, tfae 4,ccu p i f| As messy as they wanna be! Spirited freshman were armed with buckets of white wash, ready to paint the A and each other. Photo by John Gray. The royal couple! Freshmen Kelsey Spies and Spencer Campbell were selected from over 100 applicants to be crowned A-day Queen and King. Photo by John Gray. Chill out! There is nothing like a nice bucket of water poured on your head to cool you off on a hot Arizona day. Photo by John Gray. Since the A was built atop A Mountain in 1 91 5, spirited freshmen have hiked to the top every year to white wash the A and carry on tradition. This year was no exception. A crowd of over 600 hun- dred freshman met at Old Main Fountain at 8:30 on September 11. Buses trans- ported the participants to the base of the mountain. The group hiked up the moun- tain together and started painting the A. " A-day is held annually to promote spirit and involve- ment on campus and to get as many freshmen as pos- sible familiar with one an- other, " said Blue Key Presi- dent Ari Levenbaum. " For most of them it is their first opportunity to be part of a large event on campus. " Every year as part of the festivities, a king and queen are selected. WadeSkalsky, A-day selections chair, said " we look for the two people who best represent the freshman class. The first criteria is that they are spir- ited about the U of A. We also took into account their activites, GPA, and overall personality. " Over one hun- dred applicants were nar- rowed down and four male and four female finalists were announced and Kelsey Spies and Spencer Campbell were crowned queen and king. " I was a bit surprised and very excited to be announced king, " said Spencer Campbell. " The best part of the day was walking out onto the field during the football game. " " School spirit is important, " said Queen Kelsey Spies. " We could all wander from class to class and not be a part of anything but we wouldn ' t get the real college experiance. That is what was great about A-day. Every- one was involved but no one actually white washed the A. We all just white washed each other. " Levenbaum agrees, " a lot of paint doesn ' t get on the A, more of it gets thrown around. So the A-day festivities are usually followed by a real painting by either Blue Key or another group. " " It ' s amazing the time and energy it takes to plan an event like this. Then it ' s over in an hour or two, but it was worth it, " concluded Levenbaum. by Melissa Prentice Student Life ”