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The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
April 21, 2008
There is a special feeling most people only get as a child on Christmas morning. Sleeping comfortably in your bed, you suddenly jolt awake and jump out of bed. It is still dark outside and hours before you would normally be out of bed, but today is not a normal day. Today is Fox Day! Few experiences rival the electricity of that morning. Everyone you know is running up and down the halls at six in the morning screaming “It’s Fox Day! It’s Fox Day!”
 Fox Day is a uniquely Rollins holiday. Every year, some time after spring break, the President of Rollins College chooses a day to put a fox statue out on our main lawn. That day, all classes and meetings are cancelled. The fox also issues a proclamation to all Rollins students. My favorite part explains the true meaning of Fox Day:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, the Rollins Fox do hereby cancel all classes, meetings, seminars and other gatherings of the residential college scheduled for this day, and urge the students to spend these hours in those pursuits which strengthen friendships and banish discord and add to memories which give pleasure and urge all others in the college to do the same…
A thousand students pile into buses and cars and head out to Cocoa Beach for a day of fun and fellowship. The entire campus is then invited to a big barbeque on Mills Lawn. The best part about Fox Day is that it is a surprise holiday. Everyone has their own theories and formulas to explain when Fox Day is, but no one ever knows until that morning when exactly it will come.
This Fox Day fell on a Tuesday, April 8th. I got a call at 6 a.m. from a friend leaving for crew practice wishing me a happy Fox Day. I immediately called my other friends to head over to the president’s office. Every year, the president gives out donuts, orange juice, and a copy of the Fox Day proclamation to all students who pass through his office. My friends and I then moved to Mills Lawn, singing our own Fox Day songs and taking pictures with the famous fox. Some students camped out on the lawn to be the first ones to know it was Fox Day.
 We then went back to our respective buildings and proceeded to Cocoa Beach. I loved being able to walk 500 yards either direction down the beach and still know everyone I saw. For the whole five hours we were there, I didn’t sit down once just because there were so many people to say hi to and to hang out with.
The barbeque was delicious, especially after walking around in the sun all day. We were all famished and enjoyed the relaxing end to the day. I don’t know anyone who didn’t fall asleep by ten o’clock that night. Fox Day is by far the greatest tradition at Rollins, and I would argue one of the best traditions of any university in the country.
| More about Daniel... Daniel has been involved with a wide range of activities over his first three years at Rollins. He has worked for Residential Life, the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership, the Dean of the Faculty, the Admissions Department and the Office of Public Relations & Communications.
Daniel has also taken advantage of the many opportunities for co-curricular education. He traveled to New Orleans with Rollins Relief and to Australia for a semester abroad. Daniel describes involvement at Rollins by saying, “Rollins has so many amazing opportunities for personal growth. I hope that my entries will help new students find everything they’re looking for.”
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Daniel's R-Journal archives:
| Date |
Link |
| April 22, 2009 |
Cheering On the Magic Men |
| April 05, 2009 |
Like It's Going Out Of Style |
| March 24, 2009 |
Don't Drink the Water |
| March 03, 2009 |
Classy Ladies |
| February 21, 2009 |
Mandatory Fun Time |
| February 06, 2009 |
A Hand Up |
| January 25, 2009 |
Climb Your Mountain |
| November 22, 2008 |
Not Confined to the Classroom |
| November 05, 2008 |
We The People |
| October 27, 2008 |
It's About Being Real |
| September 25, 2008 |
Back in the Swing |
| September 18, 2008 |
Growing My Own Way |
| May 20, 2008 |
End of Days |
| May 20, 2008 |
LEAD Team |
| April 21, 2008 |
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year |
| April 01, 2008 |
Chillin' at Rollins |
| March 18, 2008 |
Residential Life |
| January 27, 2008 |
Home Again |
| December 12, 2007 |
Australian Field Trips Provide Exploration & Insight |
| December 12, 2007 |
Australia: So Close, Yet So Far Away |
| December 12, 2007 |
Rollins Provides a Whole New World of Opportunity |
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Comments (1)
Hi Daniel, I just wanted to say thank you for your journal postings. They are very interesting and gave me a lot of info on Rollins. Thanks!
-Cary
Posted by Cary | April 25, 2008 11:19 PM