COLUMN: Freshman guide to USD Dakota Days

Ready or not Dakota Days week is about to start and I, for one, couldn’t be happier.

Cheers of “Happy D-Days” as well as the profuse amount of unnecessary t-shirt sales will over take the campus once again.

For all new students at the University of South Dakota, Dakota Days, known by most as D-Days, is the homecoming week for USD.

This year, in case you haven’t heard, is extra special as it will also mark the 150th anniversary of USD as a school of higher education.

Oct. 1 will be the official start of D-Days with plenty of extra activities going on around campus.

A university sponsored kick-off will take place that Monday morning in the MUC.

Monday of D-Days is the traditional day of tapings for the Strollers organization, which for those who don’t know who they are, is a group of students wondering around in funny hats and strange ugly sweatshirts, shouting non-sense at anyone and everyone.

Tuesday night marks the announcement of the final seven royalty candidates for D-Days king and queen. An event that used to name the king and queen until it was moved to announce during halftime of the football game on Saturday.

As you can see, the university will have a number of events happening and a complete schedule of events  during D-Days week can be found on the USD website.

Being a senior, I know all to well that students will also celebrate D-Days in another fashion. This fashion is most commonly seen as partying. Every day of the week,  Carey’s and other bars around the Vermillion area will be full with students out celebrating D-Days week.

Now I’m not going to lecture on how or what is the best way to celebrate D-Days, but what I will lecture on is that D-Days is a fun experience for everyone. It is a week that connects everyone apart of the USD family and everyone should make the most out of his or her D-Days week.

For students D-Days is another special week that they can enjoy being in college as well as being a student at USD.

For faculty, it’s a way to reflect on the university and connect to the school they work for.

For alumni, it’s a way to reconnect to a place that had a strong impact on their lives.

All in all, the real excitement of D-Days week comes on the weekend, as Vermillion will be overtaken by students, alumni and friends. Friday will be a busy day across USD and Vermillion as plenty will be going on with numerous amounts of people filing into town. Saturday’s parade at 10 a.m. marshalled by USD alum Tom Brokaw will be followed up with tailgating for the USD football game against Western Illinois.

D-Days week is full of activities, excitement and memories, I hope every student makes the most of it.

I know I will be  enjoying every minute of this upcoming D-Days week and trying to make it the best one yet.

Reach columnist Eric Mayer at [email protected]