SMU Ambassadors

By Carissa Laughlin

I was very fortunate as a student at SMU to have the opportunity to attend a presentation from former President George W. Bush about his new book, 41: A Portrait of My Father. This opportunity was provided to me from the Hunt Leadership Scholars program and the generosity of the Hunt family.

Having the opportunity to attend such a prestigious event is something I will never forget. Hearing former President George W. Bush talk about his childhood and growing up with his father as President of the United States was a very unique experience. Former President George W. Bush was extremely candid and open with the crowd, which made everyone lean in to listen to the stories of exchanges between father and son, in and outside the White House.

(Pictured (left to right): Carissa Laughlin, Emily Hegi, & Elizabeth Dubret at McFarlin Auditorium at SMU with signed copies of 41: A Portrait of My Father)

One of my favorite stories was when former President George W. Bush was very young, and stole a set of toy soldiers from a local shop in Midland, Texas. His father noticed the toy soldiers and asked where they came from, and former President George W. Bush not wanting to lie, proceeded to tell the truth. Admitting to the stolen items, former President George W. Bush was escorted by his father back to the store, and was told to apologize and return the items. Former President George W. Bush said this was how his father would discipline. It was much more about learning and growth from the experience, and making things right. Though it is easy to put leaders up on a pedestal and forget that they are normal people, hearing these stories really humanized two historical leaders of this country.

These types of opportunities are often made available to students at SMU through on-campus events, the Tate Lecture Series, and on-campus programming from student organizations.

By Jack Murphy

Without a doubt, one of the most popular traditions SMU hosts in the winter is the famed “Celebration of Lights.”  Students since the 1970s will talk about their magical experience singing along to Christmas carols with their friends while sipping on hot chocolate on the steps of Dallas Hall.  I am proud to say Celebration of Lights is my favorite event not just because of the night’s magical allure, but because this December I was given the opportunity to plan all the festivities.

One thing that makes SMU so great is they treat their students with opportunities that other universities cannot offer.  Other schools only let the administration take part in organizing their Homecomings, Family Weekends, and big traditions on campus.  At SMU, it’s up to student organizations to plan the university’s largest events.  I was tasked with organizing Celebration of Lights (also known to our planning committee as “COL”) for 2014 and I was up for the challenge.  After putting together a committee of experienced and ambitious students, we started our planning process.  We chose that this year’s event would feature a live webcast for alumni and parents to watch from anywhere in the country.  This new addition was a huge step in COL history, and our team is very proud to be the first to bring SMU’s biggest tradition into everyone’s home and to their smartphones.

At the end of the day, we put up more than 140,000 Christmas lights and over 300 luminarias lining the sidewalks, set out 140 gallons of hot chocolate and apple cider and 40 dozen Tiff’s Treats cookies, sponsored 82 children from the Dallas CASA Angel Tree program who have been affected by domestic violence, listened to SMU’s talented students perform songs of the season, SMU President R. Gerald Turner read the Christmas story, and we lit up Dallas Hall the SMU Christmas tree as we celebrated the holiday season.

You can watch Celebration of Lights 2014 here at smu.edu/live!

By Taylor Thompson

With finals approaching (actually, they start in 3 days, yikes!) it’s always nice to take a break with friends to celebrate the holidays. My favorite tradition that we have on campus is Celebration of Lights. Students, faculty, staff, and families from about the Park Cities all come together on Dallas Hall Lawn to eat warm cookies, drink hot chocolate, and sing everyone’s favorite carols. The entire lawn is lit up by the most beautiful glow from all the lit candles as we stand together as a community. Now you must be wondering, if this event is called Celebration of Lights, where are all the lights?! The last song we all sing together is Silent Night. After the first verse, 138,000 white lights that are wrapped around Dallas Hall and all the trees on the Lawn are all turned on at once. It’s hands down the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen when it comes to Christmas lights. For me, this year was particularly special as it was my last Celebration of Lights as a student. Standing with all my friends, I was reminded at how many memories I have created and how many life-long friends I’ve made over my past 4 years at SMU. As the temperature keeps dropping, our planners become more filled with review sessions, and sweatpants are considered “getting dressed,” Celebration of Lights couldn’t be a better reminder what this time of hear is all about.

By Melody Davis

It’s time for finals now for SMU students – which means late nights studying, extra coffee, stress to pull off those good grades; no surprise there. But finals time also means something else on campus for SMU: Celebration of Lights. This past Monday, I celebrated my fourth but hopefully not last Celebration of Lights ceremony at SMU. Coming back from Thanksgiving break to Celebration of Lights is the perfect transition into the Christmas spirit and semester wrap-up. Celebration of Lights is such a special time with holiday songs, the reading of the Christmas story by President Turner, and the lighting of our already spectacular campus with thousands of beautiful white lights. This year was especially bittersweet, watching the ceremony for my senior year, but also seeing special friends who came back to celebrate with us even after graduation. If I’m lucky enough to stay in Dallas next year, you can bet that I’ll be back to celebrate one of the most wonderful SMU traditions!

By Adam Melson

As the fall semester ends and the temperature drops, its a telltale sign that Homecoming is near. This past Homecoming weekend was again one of the best weekends of the fall semester.

(Pictured: 2014 Homecoming King Kyle Cantrell representing Beta Upsilon Chi and 2014 Homecoming Queen Taylor Goerke representing Chi Omega)

Alumni from all years past came back to the Hilltop to celebrate being a Mustang and relieve their college years. To kick off the weekend, the SMU men’s basketball team kicked off their season with a win at Moody Coliseum. The celebration continued the next day with the Homecoming parade and the Boulevard. So many organizations were represented by floats on the parade, which was led by SMU alum and star of the Office, Brian Baumgartner. The Homecoming Boulevard was a welcoming reminder of all the support and spirit for SMU. The festivities stretched from Dallas Hall down to the tip of the Boulevard and each tent was a representation of the community spirit of our organizations on campus. It was incredible to see the blocks of Hillcrest avenue and the boulevard teeming with fans cheering for SMU. Unfortunately this was my last Homecoming parade and Boulevard of my undergraduate years, but I look forward to coming back to Homecoming each year as an alumni member.

By Kathleen Batman

Homecoming is one of the best times to be on campus. So many alumni come back to celebrate SMU and it’s a lot of fun to participate in all of the events during the week leading up to the football game. The biggest event is always the homecoming parade where organizations present their floats and drive through campus. Organizations spend hours upon hours building their floats and pomping (filling chicken wire with small pieces of tissue paper). The homecoming candidates representing the organizations always get to ride on the float during the parade. I was lucky enough to ride on the float of Nineteen11, which is an organization I have been apart of since I was a freshman. I got to dress up as Minnie Mouse and wave to people on the parade route and hand out footballs. It was such an amazing experience. I had a blast celebrating my last homecoming as an undergraduate and am looking forward to next years as an alum.

By Mehdi Hami

As a student at Garland High School, I first learned about SMU through the Tate Lecture Series. I would attend as many Student Forums as I could as a high school student. Tate Student Forums are interactive (and free) sessions with world changers, and also got me extra credit in my high school Physics course. At the time, I loved the Tate Lecture Series because it boosted my grades in a course that I knew little about, but I did not realize the impact it would have beyond that.

As I stated earlier, the Tate Lecture Series was when I first learned about SMU and the amazing opportunities available here. At the time, I only thought of the extra credit I’d receive for my Physics class. Now, I think back on seeing the likes of Buzz Aldrin and Clarence Thomas and wonder at being able to ask them questions about their lives.

Ever year, a student moderates the Student Forum and gets to spend time with each speaker. The Student Forum is open to high school student, SMU students, and community members to attend and even ask questions. In addition to that, SMU students can attend the Lecture in the evening for free by showing up to McFarlin Auditorium with a student ID. This year, every single Lecture has been sold out, but SMU students can still attend for free!

The Tate Lectures are an essential part of the SMU experience and one that even high school students can experience.

By Liz Dubret

This past weekend at SMU was Family Weekend and one of my favorite weekends in the fall!  We are more than half way through the semester and everyone is missing a tiny bit of home.  So it is nice to have friends and family come spend a weekend seeing all that SMU has to offer.  The University provides many different opportunities for families from the Talent Show to campus tours and everything in between.  But as a senior, my parents felt like they had seen and done it all and just wanted to spend time with me.  So I spent Friday night at a dinner with my friends and our parents – of course we made them take us somewhere nicer than Cane’s!  And then we all went to hangout to eat desserts and listen to a  live band.  It was fun to see the parents and their kids eating cupcakes and goofing off out on the dance floor.  Saturday we all woke up extra early for the Boulevard and to go support the Mustang Football team.  I took my parents to the Lyle School of Engineering tent to meet my professors and then walked them all over campus to continue to meet my friends and their parents.  We then went to Ford Stadium to watch the game.  And even though it is October, it was still scorching hot and my mom and I left at the very end with sun burned noses.  To end all of the commotion of the past 24 hours, my parents and I finally relaxed on Greenville at Steel City Pops before calling it quits for the night.  It was a great end to four years of Family Weekends and I think my parents can honestly agree that SMU has been a great place for me and I sure know that they have enjoyed visiting!