Continuing one of Auburn's longest-running traditions, the university held its 76th annual Hey Day event on Wednesday, Oct. 18, across campus.
Each year in the middle of the fall semester, volunteers hand out name tags so members of the Auburn family can easily greet one another. This year, SGA offered pictures with Aubie and raptors from the Auburn University Raptor Center, two beloved animals well-known to Auburn fans.
Hailey Bergenthal, senior in law and justice and assistant director of Hey Day, believed the event “unites all of campus.”
“Everyone’s in a slump [after midterms], and it picks everybody back up, and everyone gets a chance to just hang out and have a great day,” Bergenthal said.
Maddie Robison, senior in industrial and systems engineering and SGA’s executive vice president of outreach, recognized that the middle of the semester can present challenges to many students.
“I think it gives students a chance to continue [connecting]. It’s after the first 56 days,” Robison said. “We kind of want to continue this welcoming atmosphere that Auburn has to offer as well as encouraging and engaging the student body within the middle of the semester.”
Robison has participated in every Hey Day since her freshman year. She found her love for the tradition after establishing “long-lasting relationships” at her first Hey Day. To Robison, Hey Day continues to be Auburn’s “most cherished” tradition.
Auburn’s SGA hosts Hey Day every year, stretching back to when Auburn students returned from WWII to a campus where they felt “unseen and unheard,” according to the SGA website. Hey Day began as a way to connect these students with the Auburn family.
Lily Grace Thome, junior in public relations, directed last year's Hey Day and noted the event has grown since its original conception.
Now, participants pass out t-shirts, buttons, stickers and more. Yet, the event maintains its focus on encouraging students to "have a day on campus walking around saying 'hey' to each other," according to Thome.
To Thome, Hey Day offers “a tangible way to see the Auburn spirit and the Auburn family on campus." Like other Auburn students, Thome made fond memories from past Hey Days.
“Honestly, it reminds me to slow down and to enjoy being here to actually invest in the relationships and the people that I'm able to meet," Thome said. "I ended up making some of my best friends freshman year on Hey Day by literally just simply putting on a nametag.”
Hey Day offers students "Christmas on campus," according to Thome, who noted she enjoys all of Auburn supporting a day like this.
Charlie Fleury, senior in public relations and assistant director of the event, worked his third Hey Day this year. He recounted an experience his freshman year in which someone told him the event could be "the first or the only time that people are touched by the Auburn family."
“When someone said that to me freshman year, that kind of gave me chills, and I really wanted to [help] and kind of be able to impact someone's Auburn experience and their experience with this Auburn family that we all talk so highly about,” Fleury said.
Madeline Facteau, sophomore in psychology and director of this year's Hey Day, believes the tradition represents her fondness for Auburn. Celebrating Hey Day "[embodies] all that Auburn is," according to Facteau. Like Thome and Robison, Facteau met some of her best friends at past Hey Days.
“I don't think if it was another college campus it would be received as well as it is here, and it says a lot about the character of people — just how well we love Auburn and its people,” Facteau said.
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