{"id":39631,"date":"2015-10-16T11:14:42","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T18:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=39631"},"modified":"2015-10-16T11:19:50","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T18:19:50","slug":"why-i-love-nau-and-homecoming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/why-i-love-nau-and-homecoming\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I love NAU and Homecoming"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0By Jerry Nabours,
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/em>Flagstaff Mayor and NAU alumnus\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

NAU was at its best from 1968 to 1971. Because that\u2019s when I was\u00a0a student!<\/p>\n

Not because I was a great student or especially involved. It\u2019s because I loved NAU.<\/p>\n

I think that the university should be frozen in time as of the date of my graduation.<\/p>\n

At Homecoming I should be able to visit the campus and see my cafeteria in the student union, which is now the 1899 Bar and Grill, go see my dorm room in Old Main, watch football in Lumberjack Stadium and see my old girlfriend\u2019s sorority house in the quad. Aaahh \u2013 what have you done to my NAU!<\/p>\n

Of course, the reality is that NAU has advanced every year in quality and prestige.<\/p>\n

I remember when the reputation was that NAU was primarily for teachers. There may have been a little truth to that at one time but that\u2019s certainly not true any more. Although NAU still graduates many teachers, its sciences, health services, engineering and technology degrees have also\u00a0gained prominence.<\/p>\n

NAU\u2019s business college, hotel management, forest restoration institute, DNA lab and many other departments are nationally recognized. Students now come to NAU for specific programs because they are the best. A walk through campus shows you that there is a lot going on at NAU. Sure the look of the campus has changed. That\u2019s not a bad thing.<\/p>\n

As a student I did not pay much attention to the city. It seemed like a pretty nice place but it was the weather that sold me. During my 40 years here I have grown to love many other aspects of Flag.<\/p>\n

Now as mayor, I have a unique view of NAU. It is a city within our city. We could not thrive without NAU and vice versa. Talk about a mutually beneficial arrangement \u2013 this is it. I am glad to report that President Cheng sees the city as an ally and a friend. She and I confer regularly to be sure we are not at cross purposes.<\/p>\n

NAU hosts innumerable\u00a0activities and entertainment that benefit the city. During the nationally broadcast men\u2019s basketball post-season game this spring, the dome was full of cheering\u00a0students and town folks. It was loud, fun and exciting. The out-of-state commentators were amazed. They said, \u201cThis is what college sports is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lumberjack\u00a0camaraderie is one of things I look forward to\u00a0during Homecoming festivities.<\/p>\n

NAU served me well. If you are reading this you probably agree that your current success is due in large part to NAU.<\/p>\n

Ok, I will admit it \u2013 I love NAU more now than in 1971.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0By Jerry Nabours, \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Flagstaff Mayor and NAU alumnus\u00a0 NAU was at its best from 1968 to 1971. Because that\u2019s when I was\u00a0a student! Not because I was a great student or especially involved. It\u2019s because I loved NAU. I think that the university should be frozen in time as of the…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":39688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-views-from-nau"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}