By governors proclamation, April 18th is “I Love CSU Day”. To celebrate, the Alumni Center placed 1500 green hearts around campus and gave out free donuts, coffee, and Colorado State University gear.

Alumni Engagement Manager Dakota Schuppe expressed the significance of “I Love CSU Day.” Shuppe explained that every year the governor declares April 18th as CSU Day.

This year, the Alumni Center, who owns the rights to “I Love CSU Day,” decided to shake things up. Schuppe explained further that “I Love CSU Day” was all about showing off Ram Pride. All students had to do was wear their ram gear and show their love for the university.

The Alumni Center had staff in golf carts riding around all over campus, handing out free green and gold apparel to anyone wearing CSU attire. 

Amy Jo Miller, the director of communications for the Alumni Center, described why this year’s “I Love CSU Day” was so different from previous years. 

“We just decided that there hasn’t been enough done with it in the past and we really needed to blow it up and make a big deal out of it,” Miller said. “(We wanted to) get people excited and really flaunt that stewardship, just celebrating the university and everything going on here.”

Ram fans with all different types of relationships with the university showed up in support of CSU. The Alumni Center estimated 1000 people came for free food and celebrated their school pride. Happy Bennett, a web content coordinator for the university, explained why she came to the Alumni Center for the event. 

“I am an alumni, I am an employee, I am a donor and I am a ram fan,” Bennett said. “I really enjoy looking around campus and seeing all of the students, who i find to be super enthusiastic people of different ages and backgrounds and that they’re all pursuing some type facet of their dream, and it’s just energizing. I feel like our futures in really good hands”

The ram pride was not specific to alumni. Third year student Megan Oldham, studying human development and family studies, explained why she appreciates “I Love CSU Day.”

“I think its really cool that we can all get together and appreciate the university because it does affect us all in different ways and impacts us in different ways, but we all (share) that we love this university and we wanna celebrate it,” Oldham said. 

The Alumni Center’s hope for ramping up the celebrations for “I Love CSU Day: is that the new additions become a staple of the university. 

“My hope, secretly is that it becomes an expectation every year, and a mini homecoming in terms of peoples engagement and excitement,” Miller said.

Collegian reporter Meagan Stackpool can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @meaganstackpool.