SAA Trail of Torch event wins highest honor

Trail of the Torch, the jubilant Student Alumni Association (SAA) event that kicked off the school year, has captured a Gold Medal for Excellence in student programs from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.

The Council, or CASE as it is known, announced the award in April as part of its 2005 Circle of Excellence awards given each year in a variety of categories related to university events, publications and programs for alumni and donor relations. CASE, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is the largest nonprofit education association with memberships representing more than 3,000 colleges, universities and independent schools around the world. The annual awards are both highly competitive and prestigious.

The Trail of the Torch was organized by the Student Alumni Association with funding assistance from the Student Government Association to welcome the 2004 incoming freshmen. It came about when the SAA learned that FIU’s icon, the Torch of Knowledge, Service and Understanding, which is traditionally lit for school’s opening day, would remain extinguished because of budget cuts. With the guidance of Alumni Relations Assistant Director Sean Kramer, the students worked to ensure that the torch would be lit for at least one week every year, during FIU's Welcome Week in the fall semester. The Trail of the Torch is now an annual tradition.

More than 400 students gathered at the University Park campus for FIU’s first Trail of the Torch. It began with a lighting of the processional torch at "The Cage,” FIU's football stadium. Students then wound their way across campus on a two-mile trek through residence halls to buildings and finally to the center of campus where the Torch of Knowledge, Service and Understanding stands. The entire time, students chanted and sang FIU cheers. There was a palpable unity in the air and a collective roar came from the crowd as the Torch was lit by students. The event ended with a festive party.

“I am really proud of the students and excited Trail of the Torch got the recognition it deserved,” Kramer said. “It was a great program and it was a lot of hard work put in by the Student Alumni Association.”

A total of 70 student volunteers worked together on Trail of the Torch – 20 in the pre-event planning and 50 more on the day of the event. A student-run marketing sub-committee coordinated all campus publicity, promotion and presentations. The budget sub-committee was responsible for the development, fund-raising and management of the overall budget for the program. The logistics sub-committee handled all of the on-campus issues, including event management, volunteer recruitment, traffic management and health and safety.

“The results were more than we could have hoped for,” Kramer said. “Turnout was unbelievable and everyone had an amazing time.”

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