Tradition!

[Does that title make anyone else think of "Fiddler on the Roof"? I blame the Admiral. Jerk.]

My alma mater is a school steeped in tradition. It's pretty small (2500ish students) and populated by people that just don't generally get worked up over most things. There are things that go on there that you just simply can't get away with most places. Freshmen get beanies at the beginning of the year. Seniors make them sing. (Well, "make" is putting it strongly. Usually if a freshman is singing it's mostly by choice, and that senior is a previous acquaintance. I could still sing you the song, too ... but I won't.) There's a homecoming picnic that involves sliding down a concrete "M," mud "volleyball," and consuming mildly covert beverages.

And seniors wear these.

This is my senior hat.

Ain't it lovely?

Okay. Let me explain the parts of a Hardrocker's senior hat.

1. The hat is constructed of leather (the brim and ... what would you call that part? the label?) and canvas. Not shockingly, they used to be made of stronger stuff, but for that matter leather and canvas are fairly tough.

2. The label thingamajig part is branded -- no, really, with a heated metal brand -- with the senior's major and sometimes Greek affiliation. Each department has a brand (or something similar; when I was there, the metallurgical engineers were attaching cast metal plaques) and most departments have some sort of system for branding a senior's hat. (The chemistry and chemical engineering majors heat their brands over a Bunsen burner.)

3. The hat itself is signed by engineers of all types (name, graduation year, and frequently other random things) from acquisition through M-Day.

4. From about August through M-Day, area bars offer garter drinks. Nasty stuff, usually (rail drinks) that come with -- hey! -- a garter that is worn that evening, then attached to the hat. (Actually, the hat COMES with a garter in the school colors.)

The garters make it easy to pick out the frat guys, who usually have brothers helping them collect. Eventually their hats are too heavy to be worn. Me? I didn't drink much back then and I have a whopping 5-1/2 garters. (Yes, at one point we cut one in half.)

In my unpacking and sorting, I came across this particular keepsake and put it on a shelf in the living room. This afternoon, I picked it up again and had all sorts of flashbacks as I read some of the names on there.

Chem-e classmates I haven't talked to in four years. My old Connolly friends that I still chat with regularly. Andy, who signed it "Class of Whenever." My dad and my granddad (who was a Triangle). Four professors, including one who signed it in Polish first. (All of those professors were people I'd actually hung out with outside of class at some point. I had a pretty cool department.) One person who wrote in mirror-image form. Several people whose real names I won't remember in ten years. There are at least three names on there from people who later quit Mines and went elsewhere. Several women who don't go by that last name anymore.

I have six different roommates on there, a pair of actual sisters, two separate family trees, and most of my chem-e class. The balance is about one-quarter women, which is still stronger than the balance of my year.

There are moments where I'm less friendly toward the school, but I have to admit -- it's a pretty cool place. I had four (and a half) very good years there. While I won't be returning as a student, I'm proud to be a Hardrocker.

And danged if I don't love my senior hat.