Graduating students hope Orange Grove will help wishes come true

Graduating students hope Orange Grove will help wishes come trueApril 27, 2005Matthew R. Snydermrsnyder@syr.edu

This spring on the Syracuse University hill, for the first time ever, wishes will grow on trees-or so it will appear to visitors to SU’s Orange Grove. In the week prior to Commencement, graduating seniors have been invited to visit the Orange Grove to tie on an orange ribbon, representing a wish. It is hoped that the legacy of the alumni whose names line the grove will help the wishes come true.

The new annual event kicks off its inaugural year with a ribbon-tying ceremony in the Orange Grove, May 9 at 2 p.m. SU’s 2005 Senior Class Marshals will lead the graduating class in affixing ribbons and making wishes.

To encourage participation, the Office of Alumni Relations will provide each graduating senior with an orange ribbon during cap and gown distribution, May 9-May 14.

This new event follows on the heels of last spring’s Create A Tradition Competition, a community-wide effort by the SU Alumni Association that invited students, alumni and friends of SU to create a new campus tradition tied to the Orange Grove.

Contest winners Courtney Bell ’04 and Betsy Sherwood ’04 say their idea was inspired by the reason orange was adopted as the University’s sole official color: To represent the golden apples of Hesperia, the story of the sunrise and the hope for a golden future. The spring timing for the event is also symbolic of each graduating student’s transition from student to alumnus.

While the Syracuse community has embraced the Orange Grove as a place to leave a lasting legacy on campus, the Alumni Association also sees the Orange Grove as a unique tool to fulfill students’ desire to see more Orange tradition on campus.

“We welcome this opportunity to bring the spirit of Orange into the Orange Grove-and much as the tradition will grow, the contest is also a terrific reminder that the Orange Grove itself is still growing,” says Donald C. Doerr ’85, LAW’88, assistant vice president of alumni relations. “There are more than 1,000 alumni and friends represented in the Orange Grove and hundreds of pavers are added each spring and fall.”

For more information on the Orange Grove, call the Office of Alumni Relations at (800) 782-5867 or (315) 443-3258, or visit http://orangegrove.syr.edu .