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Printer-Friendly ModeOur close-knit community a source of pride at 10,000
August 31, 2009 —
If we were all to hop inside a helicopter and take a little cruise above University Center, we would easily identify something down below that previous generations of Cardinals had a tougher time spotting without squinting. It’s called SVSU.
Today’s upperclassmen likely can recall a time when the construction on Pioneer Hall could be heard from Living Centers and when the Saginaw Valley Health Care facility was little more than a wide patch of grass. Before we knew it, freshmen were filling the new Living Center with their worldly possessions and the Health & Human Services building started to resemble a building. And there’s more.
As sure as the nest has grown, the Cardinal flock has added to its ranks. We hit the 10,000 student mark this month.
So, what does this all mean?
What does it mean to us students to be a part of a five-digit flock as opposed to a four-digit one? Numbers-wise, is this a change we can see? Or perhaps one we are supposed to suddenly feel?
The Vanguard’s position centers on the notion that while we won’t necessarily be uncomfortably rubbing elbows with a surplus Cardinals everywhere on campus, we have reached a new level as a university that should drive up our pride meters, even if it’s just slightly.
No, we’re probably not destined to be Big Ten football competitors at this point, nor is SVSU an acronym that won’t raise confused eyebrows beyond state borders. But there still is a nice ring to the phrase “I attend a university with just over 10,000 students.”
There’s something about “10,000” that helps us shed our cornfield-inhabiting stereotype, yet allows us to keep that personal touch we value. We believe that a perk of attending our school has been (and remains) that we are educated in an atmosphere where face time with our professors and administrators is commonplace. Even grabbing the ear of President Gilbertson is an attainable goal, whereas at a much larger university, you might be more likely to spot Osama Bin Laden at Starbucks than to find such accessible administrators.
Not to discredit larger universities that surely have hard working, caring staffs, but for us, it’s just a little easier. And we appreciate the reality that even though our enrollment numbers continue to rise, we maintain that close-knit community feeling. We’re not advocating “grouphug Fridays” or getting sentimental here; we just value the academic and extra curricular opportunities we retain as we grow as a campus.
Moreover, there is a lot a campus of 10,000 students can do rather than simply bask in record-achieving glory. For starters, the Battle of the Valleys fundraising competition is just around the corner.
Despite the kickoff date approaching us much more quickly than in it has in the past, what we have beneath us is fertile ground for producing a whopping load of cash for charity. And, of course, we would like to keep our bragging rights for outraising Grand Valley, a university that is still twice our size enrollment-wise.
We Cardinals have the task of proving just how well 10,000 of us can fly together (a metaphor presented at the risk of overdoing the references to actual birds). We deserved a pat on the back last year for raising more than $47,000—a record high for either school throughout the history of the competition. And we got one. So now let’s use our increase in ranks to our advantage and earn another.