Welcome Back!

August 24, 2021

The History and English Departments of Southern Adventist University celebrated their annual Welcome Back party last evening at the university student park. The air was a bit muggy, but the temperature wasn’t too high, and the sun was low in the sky. The party was a wonderful time for students and faculty to have some good conversation and renew connections after a long summer break or to simply meet new people.

Lisa Diller, chair of history, opened the get together with announcements and a prayer, and the event began. There was a nice supper of burgers with all the fixings, chips, and lemonade. It was great to be able to have a meal together after last year’s COVID restrictions.

The theme of the party was the “flower power” of the 1960s. There was a booth with dress-up items of that “groovy” time of American history—flower bands for the head, as well as funny-looking colored glasses. The departments even supplied an instant camera for student use.

Free t-shirts with department logos were available, and a booth had been set up so that faculty and students could create their own tie-dye shirts.  Many bottles of dye of multiple colors were scattered about tables along with printed instructions and pans for catching the wet dye. Everyone enjoyed creating their own versions of this classic hippie costume.

The name of this shirt originated in the 1960s and stood for the process called “tied-and-dyed.” Basically, a person takes a plain white shirt and ties it up with rubber bands or string into a long rope. Then each section is dyed in whatever manner wanted to produce completely original patterns. Very meaningful to those hippies!

A real treat was the snow-cone truck that came to the student park to offer some much-appreciated crushed ice in the warm weather.

Now it’s on to a new semester here at Southern Adventist University.