ASU’s Game Day Initiative, a pilot program designed to increase tradition and spirit on every campus, has been a success so far, according to various people involved in the program.
The program sponsors weekly pep rallies to get students excited for ASU athletics, as well as hosts a tail gate before each home football game. The initiative began this semester.
One of the program’s main goals is to increase student attendance at the football games, said Julie Kipper, associate director of Campus Recreations at ASU.
“We think we’ve been pretty successful, quite honestly,” she said. “One of our goals is to increase attendance at football games, which we have certainly done.”
Student attendance has increased with each game. The first two home games had about 5,800 students and about 7,300 students, respectively. The last home game against Oregon on Sept. 25 had about 8,100 students, she said.
To continue moving forward, the program funded a trip for 15 student leaders to visit the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., and take note of the University’s traditions and school pride last weekend.
“We were sent out there as student leaders to observe the Notre Dame game day traditions and learn how we can maybe learn through what the Notre Dame students and the Notre Dame administration does for their game day traditions for their football games especially,” said political science junior Jacob Goulding, president of the Undergraduate Student Government.
The students, along with five faculty sponsors, were on the Notre Dame campus from Thursday to Sunday.
They toured the campus and athletic facilities, met with administrators, attended a pep rally and went to the game Saturday afternoon, Kipper said. “Notre Dame [is] so rich in tradition and we wanted the students to really see a school that was very, very rich in tradition,” she said.
The purpose of the trip was to inspire ASU’s student leaders and to give them the opportunity to get ideas to bring back to ASU.
There were several parts of the University that they liked, Kipper said.
Goulding said one of the most interesting things he observed was the alumni support on campus and at the game. This is something he especially wants ASU to work on.
“I was really taken back by the amount of alumni that come back for all of the football games,” he said. “I want to figure out how to reach out to [ASU] alumni, not just the students, and figure out how to get them fired up and excited about ASU and football games.”
About half of the student leaders stayed in the dorms at Notre Dame, and the other half stayed in university visitor housing, said business administration senior Dominick Hernandez, president of ASU’s Polytechnic student government.
The dorms were covered in banners and each had their own identity, such as athletes and honor students, Goulding said. He would like to see the residential halls at ASU also become more spirited.
The most important thing, Hernandez said, is for ASU students to continue to attend the games, despite the team’s record.
“Notre Dame hasn’t necessarily had a winning team for the past few years, but they still sold out every single game and their school spirit has not diminished,” he said.
Overall, ASU is on the right track in becoming a more spirited university, Goulding said.
“We’re definitely moving forward,” he said. “Notre Dame has over a 100 years of traditions, but we’ve got to start somewhere. I’m excited for the future of ASU.”
Reach the reporter at cottens@asu.edu
