The Dixie State University Alumni Association is hosting Traditions Week from March 4-8 to promote the “Dixie State Traditions” app, which strengthens the connection between students and alumni.
Traditions Week is full of events to raise awareness for the traditions app, said Jyl Hall, director of public relations. The traditions app is free and available on iPhone and Android. It includes DSU swag, DSU deals and the list of traditions.
Students and alumni use the app to keep track of DSU traditions and which ones they have participated in, Hall said. The purpose of this app is also for students to have fun completing DSU traditions with their friends, to remember these times and to pass it on to their kids, Alumni Association Director John Bowler said.
The importance of having these traditions is the connection not only between alumni and students but also between the past and present, Bowler said.
“Traditions are about learning why we’re called [DSU],” Bowler said. “We want there to be a feeling of connection, family, and to have that familiar feel to it.”
Alumna and library assistant Ellen Bonadurer said the traditions give students an opportunity to build memories and relationships that make the university experience last a lifetime.
The week will consist of alumni sharing stories of the great times at DSU and will provide opportunities to use the traditions app, Bowler said. He said the goal is for alumni to get more students involved in school activities and to have fun. These activities will lead to more students knowing about the app and how to use it.
There will be a campfire with s’mores on Monday, and the alumni will tell fun stories of DSU in the past, Bowler said.
The “alumnight” spike ball tournament will be on Tuesday. This night is meant to bring alumni and students together to have fun, Bowler said. There will be an entrance fee of $5, which the alumni association will use to buy the prizes for the winners.
Wednesday will be the weekly Wednesday event hosted by the DSU Student Association. There is a possibility that the activity will be something to promote the app, Bowler said.
There will be a scavenger hunt on Thursday using the app to get students familiar with how it works, Bowler said.
“Foodie Friday” will be a day of special offers at places where students and alumni would consider their traditional food or hang out places, Bowler said. Vendors include Swig, Chick-Fil-A, Jimmy Johns, Pizza Factory, Larsen’s Frostop and Iceberg. Students can get a special offer at each place by using the app.
Bowler said there are less than a couple hundred people using the app that the alumni pays $3,000 per year to have, which they have had for three or four years.
If Traditions Week has a good turn-out and the Alumni Association notices a significantly higher number of users on the app, they may continue to do something similar every year to promote the app, Bowler said.
“If students get involved, all the traditions that I enjoyed as a student and still enjoy today will grow and last,” Bonadurer said.
Celebrate DSU and upload photos to the traditions app to become a Traditions Keeper. Once students complete their first tradition, they are considered a traditions keeper. As they complete more traditions, they advance to different levels of a traditions keeper.
If students complete all 52 traditions, they get a tradition medal at graduation, Bowler said. The purpose of the DSU traditions is to get students ready to become alumni.
“[These traditions] allow us to get together and celebrate who we are, who we were and who we hope to become,” Bowler said.
