As graduation looms, UF seniors are finding that the best ways to connect to the university are through the oldest traditions.
Logged at the end of each semester in students’ F Books, traditions are meant to unify students. Many have been around for decades, said Avery Smith, the traditions keeper for the UF Cicerones.
"It’s designed to connect past, present and future Gators," the 20-year-old philosophy and economics junior said.
The F Book, which now documents students’ completed traditions with photographs and memorabilia, was first given out to students at Preview in 2006, said Cicerone Anna Shao.
As graduation approaches, some UF seniors are working to complete at least 40 F-Book traditions in hopes of earning a medal to wear with their caps and gowns, Smith said.
While some student activities, like participating in the Gator Color Run and swimming in Lake Wauburg, have become traditions in recent years, a few classics have stood the test of time.
"They unify students together through common experiences," said Shao, a 21-year-old biochemistry senior.
On-Campus Life
When Laurel R-Love attended UF in the late 1970s, she called herself a dorm rat.
The UF poultry sciences alumna lived in Hume Hall for all four years of school — from 1976 to 1982.
Current students can log "on-campus life" in their F Books. Living on campus is a 109-year-old tradition, with the first UF dorms, Thomas and Buckman Halls, opening in 1906. Back then, it cost only $2.50 a month to live in Buckman Hall, according to UF’s housing website.
R-Love said she fondly remembered her time in the old Hume Hall, which closed in 2000. She was a resident assistant and participated in Mudfest every year, where residents play games in a giant mud pit.
Resident assistants like TehQuin Forbes still participate in Mudfest, now held by Tolbert Hall. The 21-year-old UF sociology senior said the event is the longest-running housing tradition.
R-Love said despite not having an F Book, she still fostered on-campus friendships by throwing friends into Graham Pond on their birthdays.
Forbes said his friends don’t throw each other in the pond, but Hume RAs still celebrate birthdays. They give each other a handmade banner and loud knocks on their door at midnight.
"It’s important to keep up those traditions because it’s part of what builds up the UF housing community," Forbes said.
Painting the Wall
UF senior Griffin Plattner hasn’t had the chance to paint the wall yet. But it’s on his bucket list.
"That’s something I’ll look into," the 22-year-old chemical engineering and business administration student said. "Maybe I’ll just go paint my name on there."
Students have been painting the 34th Street Wall since the 1970s. The 1,120-foot long wall is covered in more than 250 layers of paint, according to the Class of 2016 F Book.
Today, students legally cover the wall in graffiti and use it as a platform for advertising student organizations. When R-Love went to UF, though, painting was not encouraged. She said the wall was covered in mostly obscene graffiti.
"It wasn’t a nice thing to do," she said. "If campus police caught anyone doing it, they would be arrested, or at least escorted somewhere else."
A Long-standing Meal
When Gilbert Nguyen, who graduated in 1985, attended UF, Krishna Lunch was still free.
He said he would often go to the Plaza of the Americas to get the vegetarian curry-spiced lunches with his friends. While they would eat, Christian evangelist preachers would shout at students.
"You would also listen to some of the evangelists out there and make fun of them," he said. "We would chant things at them."
He said that instead of chanting "orange and blue," students used to call out "oral and anal" in the hopes of eliciting a response from the preachers. But Nguyen still said he fondly remembers eating Krishna Lunch.
Among all the current F-Book traditions, Plattner, who is a Cicerone, wants to complete before he graduates, Krishna Lunch is one he’s not worried about.
"Usually when I go, I’ll go with friends," he said. "I know people that go almost every day."
He said logging the traditions is one of the last things he wants to do before graduating this semester.
"I got to finish that up real quick," he said. "I’m running out of time."
Tailgating and Chomping
Maria Cauthorn and Jenna Bartol said they might wait until the last week to document their traditions.
"Honestly, I can see both of us doing that," Cauthorn said. "We’re both procrastinators."
But the 22-year-old UF industrial and systems engineering seniors said they know they have at least one tradition covered: They have photos at the football games.
UF has had a football team since its formation in 1906. The alligator was accepted as the official UF mascot in 1911, and the team was nicknamed the "Gators," according to UF Registrar’s website.
Now, fans take over campus on gamedays to partake in the tailgating traditions, where students eat barbecue, play beer pong and throw footballs. Even when the Gators didn’t have a winning season, UF engineering alumnus Ray Smets said alumni and students still enjoyed the games.
Smets, who graduated from UF in 1986, said he was in the stadium when the iconic Gator Chomp was first introduced.
"Everybody was looking at each other thinking, ‘This is kind of silly,’" Smets said. "Literally the cheerleaders had to teach us how to chomp."
Smets said that back then, students would leave the games to run to the Purple Porpoise bar on University Avenue during halftime. They’d down a few beers before returning.
Smets loved participating in UF traditions when he was vice president of the Cicerones. Now, he said he attends Gator football-watching parties in San Francisco, where his friends all sing the same songs they sang as students in the Swamp.
"Students are students; they haven’t changed," he said.
Gator fans tailgate just east of Turlington Plaza before the football game Sept. 5, 2015.
