Triton Power Hour Helps Rally Students for Start of School

By Pat JaCoby I September 26, 2005

The UCSD cheerleaders lead the crowd through traditional fight songs.

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Reverberating off RIMAC Arena walls, the yells came loud and clear from more than 2,000 throats as the fifth annual "Triton Power Hour" introduced new students to UCSD traditions, athletes and campus leaders.

Billed as a unifying experience that is part educational and part pep rally, the Sept. 19 event was led by spirited Associated Student president Chris Sweeten, aided by 25 enthusiastic members of the UCSD Cheerleaders.

UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox greeted the more than 2,500 incoming students with a question: "What's it like being a student at UCSD?" and then answered, "You're a member of one of the best universities in the universe." "College is the most important time in your life," she noted, "and UCSD will open all sorts of doors for you."

UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox welcomes the incoming students.

The UCSD Dance Team performed to loud whistles and applause, and members of the winning men's and women's soccer team, women's volleyball and men's water polo teams were introduced. Giveaways included balls tossed into the crowd by the athletes as well as trident "tattoos," gym towels and several I-pods.

Julie Swail, '95, spoke of her years at UCSD and said that "I never would have dreamed, sitting where you are today, that I would one day be captain of the U.S. women's water polo team and winner of a silver medal at the 2000 Olympics." She noted that on the program's list of "30 things to do before you graduate from UCSD" she had done all but four. Among the 30 suggestions: get an internship.watch the sunset from Scripps pier.have lunch at the gliderport.watch the Watermelon Drop.

Muir College students Megan Lewis and Anu Rajagopal were among those personally welcomed to the campus by Chancellor Marye Anne Fox during the traditional "cookie handout/greeting" held the first day of fall quarter on Ridge Walk.

"We want new students to leave the event revved up about being at UCSD, feeling UCSD is a fun place, ready to participate in a wide range of campus activities, and to begin developing the kind of emotional commitment to the university that will eventually make them enthusiastic alumni," said Ken Grosse, senior associate athletic director. The "Triton Power Hour" was followed by a student Services Fair outside RIMAC and along Ridge Walk, during which Chancellor Fox and Vice Chancellor Joseph Watson distributed cookies and answered questions from students.

The events were just two of a plethora of Welcome Week activities which included square dances, a pajama ice cream social, a slammer jammer dance, an all-campus fall dance, a casino night, a glow-in-the-dark capture the flag contest and the renowned all-campus Unolympics.