Dozens of students from over 20 campus organizations came out to the Pride Walk Saturday afternoon to take part in the university’s annual street painting, officially marking the end of Civility Week 2019.
The event, which took place for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., saw students braving the abnormally high March temperatures to showcase their school and organization pride, while also showcasing support of campus civility during one of the newer traditions at ETSU.
“It feels like a good way to express school pride, and it kind of forms a community within the campus.” said Samuel Wilson, president of the ETSU Tradition Keepers.
The Tradition Keepers kept true to their name with their design, painting the old ETSU logo on one side, with the current logo on the other, and intertwining the two as a way to figuratively connect past ETSU alumni to current students.
“It feels great [to come paint],” said Katie Goethert, whose design for the Interior Architecture Student Association highlighted ETSU’s Bell Tower. “I love just getting to show ETSU pride.”
The Pride Walk painting, which first started in 2014, has also become a way for some student organizations to not only express their own organizational pride, but also to show pride in their heritage, while also helping to inspire other organizations who may be unsure about participating or are just unaware that they can.
“It feels great to be able to represent my culture and my people,” said Bode Alaka, a member of Shades of Africa, “It’s important [to showcase diversity], just to show that anyone can come here. There’s a lot of people who are scared to come here, and people who don’t know that Africans are here too, so it’s an awesome experience.”
The Pride Walk painting was the final event for ETSU and the Student Government Association’s annual Civility Week, another annual tradition started in 2014.
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