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Spring Shindig 2005

The second annual Spring Shindig was held on Friday, May 6, 2005, with many students, staff and faculty participating in the campus-wide service project. The campus community turned out in force to pick up tree branches, paint parking lot stripes, wash windows, weed flower gardens, edge sidewalks, weed-eat around trees and help spruce up and beautify the campus.

Service teams were divided by major and traveling trophies were awarded in three categories. The Music and Music Education majors took home the Spirit trophy and the trophy for the major with the greatest percentage of participants. The Art majors earned the trophy for getting the dirtiest as they worked around campus.

New this year to the Shindig was a dandelion contest to determine who could dig the most dandelions in 20 minutes. The contest was a re-enactment of a campus event that took place in the 1930s when then President Campbell decided the campus had too many dandelions growing and offered a silver certificate dollar to the student who could pick the most dandelions in an afternoon. A Sterling student by the name of Charles Courtney was the recipient of the silver certificate and subsequently gave it to his girlfriend, Marie, whom he later married. Following Charles’ death, Marie found the silver certificate and donated it to the College for the renovation of Cooper Hall. It hangs, framed, in the conference room on the third floor of Cooper Hall, which is named for the Courtney family.

For the winners of the revived dandelion contest, a certificate with the winner’s name, along with a brand new $1 bill, will also be hung in the Courtney conference room. Future winners of the dandelion contest will have their names added to the certificate.

Freshman Karin Lederle was declared the official winner of the 2004-05 dandelion contest.

Following the completion of the Shindig, a campus-wide picnic was held at Sputnik.

Spring Shindig 2005