Rick said

HootinHollerin said

Sometimes I feel like I go to a different college y'all went to lol. I then look up what FAU looked like in the 80s and 90s on Google Earth, and realize that I pretty much do….

Haha

Night and day my friend, night and day…you got it good!

Hootin, it really is a completely different school now. Even as recently as early 2000's there were parts of campus that were flat-out embarrassing. For example, the Breezeway Cafe used to look like a high school lunchroom. You'd go in one side and there'd be a salad bar and counters for Burger King, Pizza Hut and Jersey Mike's. No Starbucks, no Dunkin Donuts, no Einstein's. Then once you paid you'd come out into the main seating area and there'd be cheap tables and a painting of a grotesquely cartoonish Owl on the wall.

Nobody had school spirit. Saying "Go Owls" was a joke. We've come a long, long way.

I really think, honestly, that our 2007 bowl win was the catalyst for everything the university is now. That's when I noticed things really start to change.



P.S. New post up on the Future of Campus Rec - new outdoor courts and some other ideas. Still waiting on an email back from Director of Campus Rec to see if he has anything to say about where we're going. Will update if I hear from him.

TeamBeer said

Rick is WAY older than me and I'll vouch for that statement. It was starting to come into it's own back when I was a student but it sure is different now! I remember moving kids into IRT when it opened and people couldn't believe how nice it was

I think a picture of the Pit Stop is in order! Rick?

I remember the pit stop! It was right outside of Modoc in the middle of the grass lol. That place would prob do pretty well now, even though there is no Modoc anymore.

I remember when all the organizations on campus had block painting day. That was fun. Then they went and destroyed the blocks lol

TeamBeer said

Rick is WAY older than me and I'll vouch for that statement…

I think a picture of the Pit Stop is in order! Rick?

Ha ha…C'mon, I'm only 73!

;)

Will see what I have…the Pit Stop would be a major stretch given the availability of digital photos at that time…but do have some of the area, and possible others, that are presentable!

Pit stop? Are you talking about the gas grills outside the old dorms?
If so I might be able to find some pics when I was there of a bunch of hippies sitting around playing guitar, eating and drinking adult beverages.

illinoisowl said

Pit stop? Are you talking about the gas grills outside the old dorms?
If so I might be able to find some pics when I was there of a bunch of hippies sitting around playing guitar, eating and drinking adult beverages.

No the trailer that used to be in between Naskapi and Seminole…they were open until like 12:00 AM and sold leftovers from dinner at the cafe (ha ha).

Welcome to Owl Country - about school pride initiatives and how it's defining our culture here.

Thank you all for reading, BTW. Hope it's been interesting.

Boca Raton, future college town? with some interesting numbers about the number of college students in Boca on a given day vs the local population.

Great article, like the way you write.

walty12 said

Great article, like the way you write.

+1

He's a great writer!

We tried to land the blog here, but to no avail…….

:'(

Just a short click away though

"Ergo, on a given weekday, there are up to 41,000 college students in Boca Raton."

That's crazy! Never really thought about that until I read what you wrote.

Love reading your blog. Gets me really excited for what this place will look like in a few years. Great stuff!