ETSU students gathered near the Culp Center Saturday for the annual painting of the Pride Walk. 

The Pride Walk painting started in 2014 as a way for students and clubs to show their excitement for the year and their ETSU pride. Carter Warden, director of Student Activities and Organizations, said the idea was inspired by another university and was started by ETSU’s Student Government Association. 

“The ETSU SGA wanted to create a tradition on campus that would allow student organizations to show their ETSU pride and tell about their group. They wrote legislation that the Student Activities administration would research options and other university traditions. I contacted several institutions and presented my findings to the SGA. We decided to model it after Drake University, who had a tradition of street painting on a campus sidewalk. We decided to use the part of Sherrod Drive that had been closed to traffic and named it the Pride Walk, Warden said.”

(Gabriella Collins/East Tennessean)

The Pride Walk painting is always an exciting activity for students to participate in and have fun with. It allows students to work together, be creative and make something for everyone to see on campus. 

Timothy Lewis, director of New Student and Family Programs, said, “For me, Pride Walk is a time where new students can literally make their mark on campus. It is a great time to celebrate the end of Preview and have new students learn about various parts of campus through the various squares on the pride walk. It also helps show off the creative side of our students.”

With a large freshmen class, there was sure to be a large turnout for the painting this year, with around 800 students in attendance. 

“This year, we had students who participated in the 42nd annual Preview do pride walk painting. They are broken up into small groups for Preview, so we had each of the 45 small groups paint Pride Walk this year,” Lewis said.

The Pride Walk paintings can be seen on the walkway above the Culp Center, in the center of the campus. 

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