The other day while
checking Facebook I saw the Kent State University Alumni Association Facebook
Page and there was a question asking - who remembers “Traying down the Front Campus
Hill?” Then it followed an invitation to join others on the KSU campus on
January 24, from 1-3 to relive that tradition which is now known as Tray Fest.
I probably won’t sign
up for the Tray Fest but it did bring back memories of traying on campus when I
was a student at Kent. I remember grabbing a tray from the cafeteria with my
friends and other students. We used the trays to go down the Front Campus Hill
or Blanket Hill. Everyone did it. It was fun.
I also remember “panty
raids” and after the first spring rain… “Mud fights”. If you were around the
area with all the mud you would get into a mud fight or get picked up and
thrown into the mud. Along with that
memory, I remember walking through the campus on my way to class on Wednesdays
when there was a handful of protestors with signs to Stop the War In Viet Nam.
When I was a freshman
we had to wear navy blue beanies with a K on the front. As we passed the upper
classmen, they would say “Dink, Frosh.” A freshman would tip their beanie; give
their name, home town, and what dorm they were living in.
There are some other
good memories, like attending a fraternity Toga Party or Las Vegas Casino Party
where they set up the frat house like a casino.
I also remember the
black squirrels that ran around the campus and the sign on the grass that read,
“Grass grows by the inch and dries by the foot.”
Back when I went to
college, I studied a lot but there was always time to have fun. I came away
from Kent with not only a degree in journalism, but with a number of good memories
of my four years at Kent State University!
