Build on past with new traditions

"'T'-thieves could face expulsion" was the first story I ever read in a Technique during a summer visit in 2001. However, what I remember from that paper was an editorial about the future of the 'T'- tradition.

The news editor not only suggested how administrators could handle the pranksters but was critical of the mixed messages that had been sent to students about the tradition.

I realized that by reporting what was going on at Tech accurately and covering both the student and administrative perspective that the paper served as a bridge connecting the Tech community. It was this realization and that first article that made me want to contribute to the paper. I recognized that not only was this a campus newspaper, but it truly was a tradition of recording and commenting on campus news.

Now it is my turn to carry on the tradition of informing and entertaining students with the Technique, the south's liveliest college newspaper since 1911.

I hope that this year you find the Technique a respected source of timely campus news as well as "lively." I hope that you turn to the paper when you want to know more about the Student Government Association, the latest dean search or the last football game.

However, the April Fools and To Hell With Georgia (THWUGA) issues as well as weekly features such as Two Bits Man are just as important to the paper as the news or sports sections. Even more than just continuing to provide a distraction from your Friday lectures as much as always, I hope you see innovation in the paper and I hope that the Technique always contains information you want to read.

Always remember that first and foremost the Technique is a student paper. The only way we can keep the Technique lively is to infuse it with student life and in order to do that we need your help.

If you have an opinion about something happening on campus or that is covered in the paper, submit a letter to the editor. If you have a bad day in class, vent in a sliver. If you know of something we should be covering or have a good idea, send us an email. We want to hear from you and value your comments.

Sending us something does not mean that it will make it into the paper, but it certainly increases your odds. The quickest way to lose your voice is to never speak up. The more that we hear from you the more this paper will reflect the ever-changing student body and the history that it is in the process of making.

When you came to FASET, you learned about Tech's history and traditions; you even went on a campus tour of them. However, remember that each tradition had to have its own unique start before being indoctrinated at FASET.

No one should be limited in what they accomplish at Tech by tradition or do something just because that is the way it has been done before.

Whether it is your first or ninth year at Tech, I hope that you make the most of this year. Please understand that I do not mean the corny "do well in school and contribute to the greater good" type message that you got shipped off to college with-but that you should make your own mark.

Do what is best for you, which may not even mean staying at Tech in the end, and enjoy yourself. You are only an undergraduate once, no matter how long you stretch it out, so find your passion, make some friends or just find yourself.

Being an undergraduate is still no excuse for stupidity. Last year there were two news stories related to the "T" tradition that proved imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery and certainly not a great idea. The T-stealing tradition is a long-standing one at Tech, but it has been done and to any future victor now comes expulsion.

Still, a group scratched all of the Ts off of the new building signs and someone stole a replacement T from a going away ceremony last year. Although both were ways to carry on tradition, something that can be great, they were sad, destructive imitators that fell flat.

Don't try to do what others have done before you, certainly don't try to steal the T since you'll be expelled, just to end up always in someone else's shadow. Freshmen, please don't run out and join every organization because that is what you were told to do to be successful and don't stay in a group just because you are a "legacy."

Take this time to make your own, lawful traditions that others can try to imitate. Feel free to write me a letter once you do. In return, I will strive to do the same by making the Technique "livelier" than ever before. Deal?