On Thursday, the Builder Family will gather at Cole Mound Plaza to build our Mound for the 97th time. Please bring your rocks and wear your SC gear. Moundbuilding begins at 7 p.m. Grace United Methodist Church will serve fresh cold watermelon at the conclusion of the event, before the Purple/White Builder Football Scrimmage at 8pm.

All students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members are invited! Please plan to be a part of this important tradition.

The Mound

On September 8, 1927, a new college tradition "absolutely unique among all the colleges of the world" began. On that night, the first "Building of the Mound" ceremony was born. On the first Thursday of each school year, students gather to hear Dean Leroy Allen's original speech. Following the speech, they follow members of the Student Government Association through the campus, stopping at points of interest along the way until the gang reaches the Mound.

Then, one by one, each student adds their rock that they decorated the night before to the growing pile in front of them. Why do we do it? Dean Allen says it best: "For many years Southwesterners have been known as 'The Moundbuilders.' But this was a mere figure of speech. Literally, they built no mounds. But now it is proposed that they actually do so in a solemn ceremony that will at once symbolize the traditional constructive tendencies of the College, and at the same time pledge the loyalty of faculty and students to Alma Mater."

In 1998 and 1999, when Newsweek listed the 15 most bizarre mascots/nicknames among colleges and universities in the United States, the SC Moundbuilders were right up there among the Banana Slugs and the Fighting Missionaries. So, you could pick a standard education anywhere, or a unique experience at SC.

• Read more about The Moundbuilding Ceremony here »