And you thought you had school spirit? Meet Anne Stegen, a journalism senior who has challenged herself to show as much Sun Devil pride as possible by creating her own monthlong holiday called GOLDtember.
The holiday involves wearing gold-colored clothing in support of the ASU football team every single day in September.
The inspiration for GOLDtember came to Stegen, a community assistant at the Taylor Place residence hall, in August 2011 when she saw two of her freshman residents bantering over who could wear more gold clothing in a single month to show school spirit.
“That is when I thought, ‘Ah ha! This has the potential to be an ASU tradition,'” Stegen said.
Stegen has recruited followers to gradually build GOLDtember into that tradition. This year, she has gotten first-time participant Meghan Lawrence, a tourism development and management sophomore and community assistant, involved in the event. Lawrence shows her enthusiasm by trying to wear gold six out of seven days a week.
“Even when Anne graduates, I plan on passing on the tradition to my younger residents,” Lawrence said.
Stegen has even created a Facebook fan page that has grown to 37 likes, and she said she has gotten positive feedback from students and ASU administration.
Over her four years at ASU, Stegen has managed to collect 25 gold ASU shirts, a critical part of the GOLDtember holiday. In her two years of running GOLDtember, Stegen said she has rarely had to repeat any outfits.
“The only time I had to really get creative is when I attended the New Media Innovation Lab, and their dress code is business casual,” she said. “I would wear gold but I would go shopping at Ross or New York & Company for gold business casual outfits.”
Nutrition junior Natalie Wargo said she thinks the idea of GOLDtember is “pretty rad.”
“More students need to show school spirit like Anne, and I think if enough people hear about this, more will participate,” she said.
Wearing gold every single day for an entire month may sound extreme, but to Stegen and her small group of followers participating in GOLDtember, it is the best way to show their love for ASU.
“I hope that people will see that there are passionate people that go to ASU,” Stegen said. “There are a lot of people out there that say ASU people don’t care about school spirit and half the attendance at football games is usually gone at halftime. I really hope to turn that thought around and show that there are people out there that do care.”
Contact the reporter at csteinka@asu.edu
