Biola is commemorating its 102nd birthday this week with a Homecoming celebration.
This year’s events include a drive-in style movie night hosted by AS and a more modern-touch Twitter hunt. Homecoming Week was resurrected last year, when IMC, alumni and AS partnered to bring back the festivities. Students were not only educated about the institution and its roots, but were able to participate in week-long activities and show school spirit. This year’s celebration looks to be no different.
The drive-in movie will include balloons, cupcakes, popcorn, cotton candy and ice cream free of charge. In the first-ever campus-wide Tweet Hunt, students answer historical questions about Biola in an attempt to win prizes like an iPod nano.
Celebrations for Biola’s birthday, which was Feb. 25, 1908, vary every year ,. In the past, Biola celebrated “Founder’s Day,” a day to inform students of Biola’s rich history and the story of its founders.
“It was a time to stop and reflect,” said Victoria Smith, manager of university events. “Originally the vision was…a time to celebrate and a time to educate the community.”
In past years,
Biola has also celebrated its birthday by involving the La Mirada community.
Last year, at the celebration of Biola’s 50th anniversary in the city of La Mirada, Biola dedicated the Olive Grove for the first time, a ceremony that allowed Biola to partner with the city, Smith said.
In the 1990s, Biola took advantage of the annual celebration and found a way to fund an essential building that was still missing on the campus: the library. Celebration for Biola’s 90th anniversary included a fundraising banquet in the library, Bascom said. Construction began in winter 2000.
“They made a big deal of the 90th,” said Ken Bascom, senior director of facilities planning and construction, bringing back memories from his long history at Biola.
In 2008, Biola hosted a fancy gala at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, not to mention the 7-foot cake with 100 candles made in honor of Biola’s 100 year celebration. The night before the 25th, Biolans had a “New Year’s Eve-style” countdown to welcome Biola’s 100th anniversary, while bands Switchfoot, The Myriad and artist Tyrone Wells performed live at the Chase Gymnasium.
“To be honest, I was a little nervous, because I didn’t know how we would handle it,” Bascom said. “I think it was well done and appropriately scaled. it didn’t get too overbearing. I mean, you can’t ignore a 100 year anniversary.”
Bascom said the Centennial Legacy Gala was one of the most memorable events from Biola’s anniversary celebrations.
“That day, I had my picture taken with President Chase and retired President Cook, and I thought to myself, ‘That might be the last I get to take a picture with Dr. Chase,'” he said. “But little did I know that Dr. Cook within just a couple of months would past away. That picture means a lot to me.”
