Watch a video of Founders Day events, which kicked off the weeklong Homecoming celebration.
Video Transcript
Text-only version of video of Founders Day 2010.
Katie Marshall, Student Government Association President: Today we've got a little bit of Founders Day going on with the beginning of Homecoming. For Founders Day we'll be celebrating Charles Duncan McIver, our first founder here and the guy who basically started it all for us. We also have the UNCG Iced competition, which is a cake decorating competition, and we had 16 or 17 teams sign up from different student organizations. They're competing to see who can have the most Spartan spirit, the most traditional, artistic and original cake decorations.
Linda Carter, UNCG Alumni Association Executive Director: One the things we were most concerned about is making sure that we can get students more involved in the ceremony and help them learn who Charles Duncan McIver was by participating in the ceremony. Charles Duncan McIver was a pioneer in women's education because he believed if we educated women, we educated the entire family. So he was steadfast in seeing that this institution was formed, and it opened on Oct. 5, 1892.
Katie Marshall: I think it's important to remember the cake decorating competition happened while alumni were here. So we have current students competing while alumni are watching and interacting. It was awesome to see all the alumni, to see them come back and still enjoy the school in a similar but different way than before.
Linda Carter: I think it's really important to celebrate our history and traditions because it is the common link that brings us all together. Many times we underestimate how students value tradition and history. One of the things we know about students, and about people in general, is we want to feel a part of a community and we want to feel a part of something that is much bigger than we are. And I think things like Founders Day help ground us in how important this institution is and what it has meant to this state and what it will be.