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I wanted you to start the tour on the front steps of Holladay Hall for a very special
reason. Because you are standing on what I consider to be the sacred spot for NC State.
These steps represent the very beginning for this very great university, right here on
these steps. The main part of this tour is to move from here, and from here on out we’re
going to be thinking about the Belltower, and there it is. Isn’t it beautiful? The
sun’s shining on it. There’s the key and I’m presenting it to our open the door guy.
And get up close. Everybody get up close. Unlock the door and push it open. Listen.
Now, at the end of World War One, the university collected the names of the men who were NC
State alums who were killed in the war and they inscribed their names on this plaque.
And they put the plaque up and after they had done so they discovered that they had
a major problem. Does anyone know what that problem was? They discovered…They discovered
that they had put the name of one the NC State alums on this plaque who had not been killed
in the war. And so that name George E. Jefferson is not the name of a real person. So that
name connects these men who were killed with all the other alumni of NC State. So it’s
a very significant symbolic part of this plaque. You may know that about five or six years
ago we changed our senior class ring program and it’s just like getting a diploma except
you’re getting a class ring. Well when I describe the symbolism on the ring I talk
about the Belltower. And I tell them that the afternoon before the rings are presented
we bring all the senior class rings over here. We unlock that door, we bring them in and
we put them on that bench right over there. And then we leave and we lock the door behind
us. And so the senior class rings spend the night in the Belltower. And so I explain that
to the students and I tell them that we do that to...so that their rings will absorb
the ambiance of the shrine room and the traditions of NC State and that that will be a way to
connect their ring with all the alumni that have gone before and quite frankly, all the
alumni who will follow. Okay, turn the light off. There it is.
Four O’clock and you can tell all your friends and family that you were inside the Belltower
when the chimes struck the hour. Okay. This completes the tour. Thank you very
much for your interest. I hope you have learned something about the history of NC State and
some of our traditions and you have a better appreciation for our wonderful Memorial Belltower.