Roary turns 24. It’s party time.

Brandon Wright/Contributing Writer

From time to time, Roary makes guest appearances at events to get Golden Panthers to show their pride. Yet, for the past 24 years of his existence, no member of Roary’s pride has celebrated his birth, until this year.

On Oct. 5, 1987, Roary was born as the official mascot of the Golden Panthers. For the first time in history, a birthday party for Roary will take place at Biscayne Bay Campus at the University. The event is being held in collaboration with the Student Programming Council, Student Alumni Association, Panther Power and Student Government Association and will take place in Panther Square at 12 p.m.

The party is taking place to let students know the history of Roary, said  Zahra Arbabi-Aski, president of BBC’s SAA.

“The Student Alumni Association is hoping to make this a tradition that will continue to happen every year.”

Not only is SAA attempting to turn Roary’s birthday into a traditional University event, but according to SAA’s public relations chair, Kaytien Franco, Roary is also looking for a lady to join his pride after 24 years of being a bachelor.

“Along with dancing to ‘The Cha-Cha Slide’ and doing the Macarena, Roary is also looking to catch some tail,” said Franco.

With an objective to not only encourage students to have fun and celebrate Roary, the organizations behind the event also intend to educate students about Roary, and everything regarding the mascot.

During the party the history of the University’s past and current mascots will be told.

“We noticed that a lot of our students don’t know the history of FIU, and a lot of people think that Roary has always been our mascot, and it hasn’t,” Arbabi-Aski said. “We thought it was important to not only educate our students, but to also have an event to celebrate this important date.”

There will be a birthday cake as well as free food. Roary will also be present during the celebration

“We’re hoping that students walk out of the event knowing more about FIU, learning more about its history, its past, and to take more pride in FIU, and being a Golden Panther”, Arbabi-Aski said. “I’m hoping it will really be a great event, we’re expecting a lot of students to show up, and take advantage of this opportunity, with the great activities that we’ve planned for them.”

Along with making an appearance at his birthday party, Roary will also be stopping by the newly renovated ballrooms on the second floor of WUC for a brief ribbon cutting ceremony.

Additional reporting by Jonathan Szydlo.

Be the first to comment on "Roary turns 24. It’s party time."

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.


*