By Taylor Smith

On Thursday, March 6, University of Wisconsin–Stout students and staff celebrated a very important milestone in University organization history: the beginning of Stoutonia’s 100th year of publication. This student-run news source has covered countless events over the years and has been a valued asset to the university over the last century. This occasion was celebrated with a free event at the Memorial Student Center. Stoutonia Pa100za had snacks, live music, a raffle and a gallery that showcased archived Stoutonia covers from every decade since 1914.

“I thought that for a small venue, the attendance was pretty good,” commented attendee Renee Brown. “There were more people than I thought there would be.”

Stoutonia couldn’t have put on such an epic birthday party without the help of Event Services and Blue Devil Productions, who played a key role in booking the musical acts.

The live music kicked off with Griswold, an up-and-coming alternative rock band from Minneapolis. Soon after, Farewell Continental took the stage, which is the side project of Motion City Soundtrack frontman Justin Pierre.

“I was so excited to finally see Farewell Continental,” UW–Stout student Alex Titterud said. “I love Motion City, so I couldn’t wait to check them out. I was impressed.”

Aside from the tunes, the crowd loved the food table, which consisted of chips, dip, fruit, Chex Mix and juice. There was also quite a bit of excitement in the room as the raffle tickets were drawn for various gift cards.

Stoutonia Pa100za was a success for everyone involved. Even Justin Pierre congratulated Stoutonia’s achievement between songs while urging attendees to check out the gallery.

“Some of that stuff is really old!” Pierre exclaimed from the stage.

This event was a great reminder of how important a student-run news source is to UW–Stout and how much we value our readers. The Stoutonia staff hope that the original founders of Stoutonia would be proud of what it has become today and that this publication will still be thriving 100 years from now.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *