Freshman will learn traditions and spirits of IU at rally

It’s Friday afternoon, and the powerful music of the Marching Hundred echoes from inside Assembly Hall. The historic words of the fight song float down Fee Lane.
Welcome Week is coming to an end, but Traditions and Spirit of IU has just begun.

Traditions and Spirit of IU, an orientation program held every year to showcase and engender enthusiasm for IU, will be at 4:30 p.m. Friday in Assembly Hall.

Melanie Payne, IU associate director of orientation programs, said she is excited about this event. Not as excited, however, as she thinks incoming freshmen ought to be.  

“In general, they should expect to get pumped about being at Indiana University,” she said. “It’s high-spirited, and it’s high-energy. It’s mostly about the spirit of athletics, but it’s also about the spirit of being at IU in general.”

Students also will learn practical steps to being a true Hoosier, become better acquainted with the people in charge of IU Athletics and maybe experience something unexpected, Payne said.

“It’s about learning cheers and the fight song,” Payne said. “We’ll be visited by some coaches as well.”

The opportunity to learn the concrete aspects of being a Hoosier at Traditions and Spirit of IU is a unique experience offered to the freshman, but that’s not why Payne thinks students should attend.

“They’ve seen it, maybe, if they’ve watched basketball games on TV, or thought about it when they pictured themselves becoming a Hoosier, but I think to really understand what it feels like, there’s just no other event like it this early on,” she said.

This year also marks a change in location for the event: Last year it was held in the football stadium, but this year students will gather at Assembly Hall.

IU student Melissa Thompson attended Traditions and Spirit of IU last year, and she places the importance of the event on bringing together the freshman class.  

“I really felt a part of this huge university,” she said. “It made me really excited to go to school with people that were also really excited to be here.”

For sophomore Emily Rizzo, the rally helped her bond with her newly found friends.

“It helps you get to know the people on your floor better,” she said. “It helped me broaden my horizons and feel more comfortable in my new surroundings.”