music. welcome to the 48th annual holiday tree lighting patrick: my name is patrick moser class of 1996, and i'm a member of the alumni board of directors. i work at western oregon university as the director of the werner university center. betty: hi patrick, and hello everyone else. betty: my name is betty crawford, i'm class of 1980 and i am also an alumni board member as well. we're all in for quite a treat tonight. this event is the pinnacle of the monmouth independence community, for the holiday season and we're all so thrilled to be apart of it tonight.
patrick: absolutely, it's always a fun time to be on campus this time of year for the tree lighting and we want to, welcome you out there on the live stream if you weren't able to join us on campus today this will be a great opportunity for you to see what's going on, and then also if you're watching this on wou tv, you'll get to see what this event was all about. what's the theme this year betty? betty: well patrick, this theme is shinning brightly, our giant sequoia tree is standing tall, and the beacon of our community bringing people together, from all walks of life. it's so great to see the communities of monmouth and independence as well as alumni, former faculty and staff, coming together for the highlight event.
patrick: absolutely, so tonight's program has kinda of an agenda here, so i'm going to run through it really quick, it'll consist of a parade, and that'll be it actually starts at the monmouth library, and so i actually think it's probably already started so it'll be joining us on campus, as soon as it's able to work its way through town. a welcome from our new president, president dr. rex fuller. a guest presentation by the winner of the community essay contest, it's always kind of fun because they get to actually read their essay and then help with the lighting of the tree. greetings from the mayors of independence and monmouth and of course the highlight of the evening, as always, is the lighting of the giant sequoia tree,
betty: you know patrick, campus and community members have been busy for weeks, getting ready for this tree lighting tonight, we're so thankful to have such a great community and campus, and the folks that worked together to bring the light of this campus and our community. patrick: absolutely, it really is a team effort, everyone is involved. betty: yes. patrick: the campus, the community. i've been working on campus, i've had the privilege of working on campus for 20 years now, i've been able to be on the tree lighting committee for almost 10 year, throughout my career here at western. betty: oh wow. patrick: it is amazing how many people it takes to put on this event. from all over campus and then of course, what's fantastic is the community gets involved. the kids at monmouth elementary, independence elementary, the elementary schools in town, they have a coloring contest.
and then they also have an essay writing contest, and so our student activities board gets those entries in they decide who the winner of those two events are. and then they get to have a special time, a special spot in the ceremony. betty: in the ceremony. betty: i always get amazed at those brave people who go all the way up that tree with those lights, so high. patrick: yeah, that is actually one of the more interesting times on campus during the fall is when they do shut down the street and actually the fire department, monmouth electric, they're all apart of getting all of the lights, and then our physical plant of course, getting the lights up on the tree, the start on top of the tree. to prepare for this day, and they actually do that close to a month in advance, just to make sure that everything, and i'm sure testing all the lights ahead of time too. betty: one bulb out, they all go out.
patrick: i don't think, luckily they're not chained that way, that is a good thing because if one light went out and the whole tree went down, as far as the lights go, that would be a hard fix during the winter months, and then of course the tree is lit, tonight, of course, but then all the way through the new year, so. it's something that's kind of cool, i work on campus and then also live in monmouth so, when i'm driving up 99 west, if i go into salem and come back, it's always a nice reminder that i'm close to campus when i see that tree. betty: that tree, yes, yes. betty: i know one of my favorites during the holidays when i was in college, was when we were christmas shopping in hustle bustle in salem and getting things, and we're driving back,
to monmouth and you see that tree just bright and shinning, way up there, it's just like a sigh of relief, we're home. patrick: absolutely, well i've been lucky to, you know, since i was student here at western before i was a staff member, gosh, i've probably attended close to 20 tree lightings, so i've lots of great memories about this tradition, in fact, when i was a student, we used to we used to actually light the buildings too, i don't know if they did that when you were a student here. betty: i think they did, but you know, i'm so old, i can't remember some things. patrick: well they had the buildings lit, and they had the tree lit too, which was really great. you know, for cost reasons, that became cost prohibited.
and they also had electronic candles in each of the windows that face the street too, and i remember one year, i think when i was a junior, it snowed on tree lighting night, and i'll tell you, i've never been to a more magical tree lighting to be out there when the tree is lit and then having the snow, it's just so peaceful, beautiful, it was a really a fun year. but all of them are obviously fantastic, and i'm so happy that the rain stopped. betty: oh i am too, i am too. i was happy i was not standing outside if it was going to rain. patrick: but we're inside a warm studio, it's cold outside. but at least is isn't raining out there, there's been years were it's been raining quite heavily, you know, the show must go on, the tree always gets lit, rain, shine or snow. and luckily, it's just cold out. you know, the alumni department,
which we're apart of, the board, they serve cocoa and hot cider, on these evenings. betty: and that's actually for anybody who wants some. patrick: that's right, anyone who attends the event. so, if you're watching right now at home, i'm sorry we don't have any cocoa or cider for you. go ahead and go into the kitchen really quick before the parade starts and grab some. betty: jump in the car and hustle over so you can get some. patrick: that's true, i guess depending where on where you are, you could still get here on time. it's a great event and if you haven't been able to come back to campus, recently to see the tree lighting, i would suggest that you get that opportunity to come and there's an event in the cottage every year before the tree lighting that alumni are invited to,
yeah so come out, go to the cottage, enjoy the refreshments, catch up with people you maybe haven't see in a long while and then stay for the tree lighting, because it sure is a fun time on campus, betty: well it's a festive beginning to the lighting, going into the cottage and visiting with people. yes it is. patrick: the parade is going to be involving a lot of different student groups, we also have some community groups that are apart of it as well, and then you'll have some different winners of some different contests that happened this year that will be in the parade also. the goal of the parade, of the floats, is to have some sort of light element on it, and that can be challenging because you have to get generators and stuff and some of our students groups don't have access to those, so we'll see how lit up
the parade is this year. betty: and well extension cords only go so far. patrick: and they certainly don't extend from the library to campus. that would be a pretty element if you could do something like that. so, when's the last, have you been to tree lighting recently? betty: oh yes, last year we were here. i had the fun of passing out the hot chocolate and the cider that was so much fun. and everybody wanted something hot to drink last year. patrick: yeah it was pretty cold if i remember too. betty: it was. how about you? how many parades? have you lost count?
patrick: well i've been in several parades also, i mean in these parades because i like i said, i work in the university center now, but before that i worked in housing. and many of the floats you'll find are residence hall, hall governments who put together floats, and so when i was involved with at least the live in aspect of university housing, i would often times be convinced to be on a float. or to drive the vehicle that their entry came in on, it's a fun parade, and actually it used to for about until about 5 or 6 years ago, it used to just start up on the corner, next to coyotes, which if you haven't been back to campus recently, it's a hot spot for students, they love coyotes. i'm seeing nods from the person behind the camera, it's a mexican food restaurant.
that is right across the street from yangs, many of you have been around campus recently, in the last 25 years, knows where yangs is. but yes, there's public safety, right now, i was right about something. so public safety always starts off the parade. and all of the people are looking excited because look who's next. betty: oh i see the rotc. from western oregon, leading the parade with the american flag. that is a wonderful group, and you know patrick, i was in rotc in highschool, patrick: oh really? betty: yes i was. patrick: oh that's great, yeah this is western oregon university's rotc they have a partnership with osu and so there's a great group of guys.
next we have the pole county mounted posse, so it's always fun to have horses on our parade route and i'm sure the kids out there are pretty excited to see the mounted posse. but they actually also help us out during graduation it's a big day when there's a lot of people who come to campus, and so they're helping to direct traffic on that day. and then they obviously come out for the parade because a parade is not a parade without, in my opinion, without a mounted posse. betty: and the reminisce the horses leave. patrick: well, we could do without that. well the next float is just coming through here. betty: that looks like the barnum, butler and gentle hall float. that's called winter wonderland.
patrick: and look, they've got some lights on their car there and some sort of, i don't know who on top of that, maybe the grinch. the next is the quad staff, rudolf and the sassquad. they have a nice little tree there, that's great, they really did it up there, there it says sassquad on the back of their vehicle. betty: yeah, we have the heritage hall. is a halliday. patrick: there you go, happy halliday's, heritage hall. and so these are all of our residence halls, barnum, butler and gentle, and then and then ackermen which is newest residence hall, and then heritage hall which is all first year student residence hall. and then there's one more, is there one more? oh here we go, happy, i don't know. i think that is oh that was k d chi, which is kappa delta chi which is our multicultural sorority on campus.
and that was how the penguins saved christmas. and then we have o d phi, which is omega delta phi, this is our multicultural men's fraternity. and their theme was rudolf. betty: and what we have coming is the green dot float and the green dot elves. patrick: yes, and the green dot is a sexual violence prevention program on campus. and they really look to educate how bystanders can influence or prevent sexual violence on campus and their motto is people can't do everything but everybody has to do something and so they carry a great message and they do great educational work on campus.
betty: that's a good message, yes. patrick: well this is very exciting, it looks like this is about 3 years ago, western oregon university established a drum line. and so you have our drum line right there. and actually it looks quite a bit bigger than it has in past years and they have uniforms, that's fantastic. betty: when i was coming over here, i was hearing them practice and they just sounded great. patrick: yeah, they will actually just march through town, just randomly. and they're fantastic. so this one is the triangle alliance. and their theme this year is all we don is gay apparel. this is our lgbtq club on campus, and they're often involved in our parade and bring a great message of inclusion to our campus. betty: yes, and the next float we have for the activities associated western oregon university, the multicultural student union.
betty: doing holiday cheer. patrick: absolutely, multicultural student union is a very involved group on campus, they sponsor things like our yearly pow wow they also are very involved in our cesar chavez conference that happens on campus that brings over 2000 high school students to our campus every year. betty: oh that's wonderful. patrick: and then this looks like the wou rugby team? is that right? they're supposed to be the rugby team, they look like they might play rugby. betty: women's rugby, santa's sleigh. patrick: alright, and this actually really what the kids have been waiting for because this is the fire trucks. none of the kids, i mean kids love fire trucks, right? but none of the kids really care about the fire trucks at this point because they're starting to realize
who is on the fire truck. betty: yes. betty: and who is on it? patrick: well, it only could be santa. betty: must be santa. patrick: must be santa, in fact there he is, now this is always an adventure, and it looks like, oh no that's not mrs. clause. that's a firefighter. the monitor's a little far away here so i apologize for not being able to tell the difference between a firefighter and mrs. clause. i hope that firefighter doesn't see this on recording. but santa at some point will disembark from the from the firetruck. i always appreciate when they move a little bit further down to let him out because otherwise these kids swarm him, you don't understand how much love this guy. betty: oh yes. patrick: oh i'm sure you do, you have grandchildren.
betty: just for myself i turn into a little kid and start jumping up and down and start clapping. patrick: well that's what's happening right now, santa's clapping, just like you when you see him. okay, i think these are probably some of our essay winners, and they are going to be walking up to the stairs to the start the program here. as soon as santa moves on by, of course he had to make a stop and be shown to all of the kids because you know, you can't just have him scoot on by, because the kids are going to be like "where did santa go?" well they're going to be able to go see him, and get their picture taken with him soon. betty: well and for some of the kids this is the first chance to tell santa what they're hoping for christmas, and they can't miss that. patrick: absolutely not. okay, well, you know, it always seems like that parade kind of just scoots on through. but it's a fun start to the evening. just to have the different campus groups to come out, show you know, what they're groups are all about and then have santa come through and end that parade.
patrick: so, pretty soon, the program will start, and there's like i mentioned before, the president will speak, they'll have the reading of the essay. and then the mayors will also speak and then they'll light the tree. betty: and then just flip that switch yes. rex fuller: good evening and welcome to western oregon university’s 48th annual holiday tree lighting. the theme for this year’s event is “shining brightly.†we recognize the importance that this community has on all of our lives, and the lasting fond memories it helps to create. whether it be families that live in the monmouth/independence community or students who join this community for several important years of their lives,
our community has a positive effect on the lives of those of us who have an opportunity to join it. with that in mind, western oregon university welcomes all of you to our campus tonight our community, our members, our students, our faculty, and staff this is a time to celebrate the season and to give thanks for family, friends, and the supportive community we find ourselves a part of. this is also the season of giving and one way we can do that is by remembering those less fortunate than we are. i encourage you to give any time and energy you may have to help those around you have this holiday season. we want to thank you for joining us tonight as we celebrate the season as a community with the traditional lighting of our tree in just a few minutes, we will commence that lighting. before that, we are honored to have the independence city council member nancy lodge
and the mayor john oberst of monmouth, join us. and now john oberst will read to you as well. john oberst: good evening, this is one of my very favorite events as the year goes by. i consider this to be the ultimate community event, how many folks here are from the western community? cheering. how about monmouth but not western? independence? fall city, or dallas or salem? and i don't think any of our other events during the year, we see this broad spectrum of folks show up. i just love this events, i love the way it brings people together, it brings the young ones onto campus to have their visit with santa.
we have the events in the warner center after, so everyone have a good time tonight, we'll be lighting up the big tree in just a few minutes and with that i give you nancy lodge, from the city of independence city council. nancy lodge: thank you, i promised mayor oberst that my speech would be shorter, so. i want to welcome all of you to this wonderful happening, and at the same time, i'd like to, invite you tomorrow night, to the independence parade of lights, and if there are any people here with floats or with musical instruments, or whatever, you're welcome to join. just show up at the baptist church down across from the high school. and it's a real short parade but it's a colorful one,
and then we have at the end, at city hall, we have cookies and hot cider. so, i invite you all to come tomorrow night at 5. okay, thank you. rex fuller: give a round of applause, thank you very much, applause. i also want to do a call out to our state representative, paul evens is here in the crowd somewhere. he asked me not to do that, but he is out there so paul evens you should raise your hand and give a shout out for being here. thank you for coming back, he was former student body president and a former mayor as well. every year, the student activities board of western oregon university invites students from ash creek elementary
monmouth elementary, and independence elementary to participate in a coloring and essay contest. we want to thank all of the students that participated this year and this evening we would like to first recognize and congratulate the top winners of the coloring contest from each grade. when i call your name, please come forward to be recognized. these students will be receiving their certificates while they're here. beginning with our kindergarten, i want to ask william lockwood from ash creek elementary school to come forward. applause. big round of applause for him.
the top picture in the 1st grade belongs to brenda ambriz from ash creek elementary school. big round of applause, thank you. and finally the top picture for 2nd grade lupita manzo from monmouth elementary school. a number of these beautiful pictures are on display in the werner university center. please stop by and view the wonderful work these students have created. we will now introduce the essay winners this year. students were asked to answer to define their perfect holiday; who is there what would be important, what they would be doing, where they would be doing it, and why this holiday important to them. these winners were the top three overall amongst 3rd thru 5th grader. again, i ask that you please step forward as i call your name.
in 3rd place abby parker from independence elementary school. congratulations. in 2nd place we have estabon chavez from monmouth elementary school. i believe he had to leave early, so he's not here tonight but a big round of applause for estabon. and now, i would like to introduce the winner of the essay contest itself. she will have the honor of reading her essay and the privilege of lighting the tree. mckenna cannon from monmouth elementary school please come forward. mckenna: if i were president for one whole day, i would help people in need with food and filtered clean water.
i would give them a nice christmas dinner to feast on. i would also give them nice clean clothes to wear during the cold snowy day, and the cold icy night. i would encourage people with a dream, any dream, to follow it. i would give people the money to eat healthy food and drink clean filtered water. and to sleep on a comfortable mattress. i would send doctors to different countries and make wells for water. this is important because nobody deserves to be ill and have no water. i would give any animal a shelter, a home with food and water. and that is important because no animal deserves to be treated like that.
and that is what i would do if i was president for one day. rex fuller: thank you mckenna. and now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. as the winner of the essay contest, mckenna cannon will now help light the tree. may i have the lights out please? lights out. alright we're going to begin with a countdown, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, cheering.
how gorgeous is that, huh? finally, we would like to thank you all for attending the 48th annual tree lighting ceremony, at western oregon university. go wolves, and goodnight and happy holidays. patrick: that certainly was as always, fun. even in the studio, we're not outside obviously, but even in the studio it's just great to see that tree lit up. betty: it's just awing to see that tree lit up. patrick: it is. patrick: great pictures this year by the way, to just the full glory of that, but to get the true glory but you need to come visit campus, before the tree is stopped being lit after new years. but great to see the kids and their pictures and to hear the essay. betty: oh those were wonderful.
what just a great even. i think before we go though, we want to talk a little bit about some alumni events coming up. we first have the wou spring mixer which is on april 7th. it's at the wine study center at chemeketa. forty five dollars a person, you can contact emily in the alumni office, to get signed up for that event. betty: those of you who like golf. patrick: oh that's great. betty: my husband golfs, too much exercise. we having a golfing coming up on may 6th that you get to golf with the president. aspen lakes golf course in sisters and cascade lakes brewing company in redmond.
patrick: it'll be a great day to get out there, so you can go ahead and get all of the details from the wou alumni page. and it looks like lunch and there's a reception and everything. and then also make sure you connect with us, update your contact information at the alumni site. give us a call, always contact us, nominate alumni for the alumni award of excellence. we're now accepting nominations for the 2016 alumni award of excellence. and voting closes in march. betty: so we've had a great evening patrick, and we'd like to thank all of you, for you continued support with western oregon university. and our alumni, thanks for tuning in, we hope to see all of you at future events
patrick: that's right betty, everyone thanks for your time and support, if you don't receive emails or contact from the alumni office regarding great events, please send an email to alumi@wou.edu or go online and update your information today. so until next year, both: happy holiday's everyone.
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