Happy 100th birthday, Baylor Chamber!
A quick, four-question pop quiz for you:
- What Baylor student organization cares for our live bear mascots?
- Who are the students lead the Baylor Line at football games?
- Who organizes Baylor Homecoming?
- Which students are responsible for putting on Diadeloso?
If you know Baylor’s Chamber of Commerce, then you know this quiz doesn’t have four answers — it has one, because Chamber fills all of those roles (and more).
The oldest organization campus, it’s Chamber who provides the planning and structure to Baylor’s biggest traditions and has led in service doing “anything for Baylor” for a century now. On Tuesday, Feb. 26, Baylor Chamber turns 100. The Baylor Lariat called Chamber “the most promising organization on campus” when it was formed as the Baylor Business Men’s Club in 1919 (the name was changed to Chamber of Commerce a year later). They’ve lived up to that promise in a variety of ways.
Each year, Chamber’s 40-50 student members organize Baylor’s biggest traditions, providing planning, logistics, promotion and more at special times like Homecoming, Dia and Family Weekend. When one event ends, planning for the next year’s version of it begins.
And when you see Baylor students caring for, feeding or transporting our live mascots, those students are Chamber members.
And the students who lead the Baylor Line onto the field each week? You guessed it. Included in their long history is the founding of the university’s first intramural teams in 1924 and the fountain that originally gave Fountain Mall its name in 1964. Their motto says “anything for Baylor” and, in short, that’s what they do.
Chamber alumni from throughout the generations returned for their 100th anniversary celebration this past weekend, which included a centennial banquet at the Waco Convention Center and a bonfire on the mall. Said one Chamber alum, “Chamber students offer their whole selves with the hope of nothing in return. It’s not for recognition, but to preserve our rich traditions. But they’re also innovative, always thinking of new ways to share the Baylor spirit.”
Happy 100th and sic ’em, Baylor Chamber of Commerce!