Launching into homecoming week

BY ASHTYN HANSARD

Digital Media Director

As Tarleton State University’s homecoming week begins, festivities and activities are held around campus for students to participate in to celebrate the university’s traditions. One of these traditions is the Launching of the Ducks.

While the tradition has been around for several years, there was still a large crowd gathered for entry before the launching even began.

In the early evening of Tuesday, Oct. 14, Tarleton set up its stations and began to hand out ducks to students. While the correlation between Tarleton and ducks is pretty easy to get (Oscar P.), you may be wondering why we do this tradition at all.

Every fall semester, students are given ducks and pens to write their goals and dreams for their time at Tarleton—and in the world—that they want to come true.

By launching their ducks into the Reflecting Pool by the nursing building, students are essentially putting their goals and dreams into effect.

Depending on what class you’re in and what major you are, you may be wishing for very specific or broad things to come true.

In your freshman year, there’s a good chance your goal is to join several clubs on campus and to get straight A’s in every class you have. By your junior or senior year, you may just be wishing to pass a specific class or test that you’re struggling with.

Addison Anderson, a senior nursing student graduating this December, had this exact wish for his final semester.

“I just hope to pass the NCLEX exam this semester,” Anderson said.

The NCLEX, the national exam required to become a registered nurse, is the last step before Anderson begins his career in nursing.

Shelby Perrenoud, a pre-med student, is aiming toward her next steps in her education.

“I wrote on my duck to get into dental school because that’s what I want the most right now. I also wrote AED on the tail of my duck to work with our medical group more,” Perrenoud said.

While the whole concept of the Launching of the Ducks may sound silly to some, it means much more than it looks like on a surface level.

Perrenoud believes that the Launching of the Ducks is something that everyone at Tarleton should do at least once in their time at the university.

“It’s really nice to write your goals in one spot and then kind of have a symbol to work towards them. Then, you can argue that you wrote it on your duck, so you have to make it happen,” Perrenoud said.

The launching of the ducks may not be the flashiest tradition, but it still has great value among students and workers alike.

Jenny Cotton, a Residential Leader for Centennial Hall, believes that this tradition is important for students to participate in.

“The launching of the ducks allows students to come up with goals that they can achieve for the year. In some cases, it gives students a purpose and a push to work harder in classes,” Cotton said.

Tarleton’s Launching of the Ducks remains one of the more well-known homecoming traditions and invites all students to not only acknowledge their dreams but also chase them and make them a reality.