As Reunion Weekend celebrates decades of Syracuse University tradition, visitors to campus will also have the chance to participate in the birth of a new SU tradition: The Orange Grove will put down its first roots with a June 7 groundbreaking ceremony, to be held adjacent to the Quad in front of Bowne Hall at 11:45 a.m. The event is free and open to the public.
According to Associate Vice President of Alumni Relations Lil Breul O'Rourke '77, the ceremony will mark much more than the beginning of construction for the outdoor monument to SU's alumni, friends and fans.
"Creation of the Orange Grove is a joint project of the Alumni Association's Board of Directors and the Office of Alumni Relations, and it will be paid for entirely by donations. After that, future gifts will be put toward the formation of an endowment fund, which will be used to provide services and programs to our alumni," says O'Rourke. "Involved, engaged and committed alumni--the people who are giving back and making the University stronger--are a key factor in our vitality, improvement and ability to attract top students."
The Orange Grove's prominent outdoor location--envisioned by planners as a contemplative, picturesque campus landmark--will be a place for SU enthusiasts to leave their permanent mark of friendship for the University community amidst trees, benches and granite pavers engraved with the names of Orange Grove participants. A series of statues commissioned specifically for the monument will complete the Orange Grove's tribute to the generations of alumni, friends, staff and faculty who have contributed to SU's success. The Office of Alumni Relations has announced a $50,000 contest to choose the primary sculptor for the Grove.
The groundbreaking will be the first physical manifestation of several months of behind-the-scenes planning and preparation on the part of the Alumni Association's Orange Grove committee. Committee members include Walter J. Bobkiewicz III G'89 (committee chair), Ellen L. Baker '73, Shereth Landrum Coble '64, Deborah Fritsche '74 (Alumni Association president), Bradley S. Glazer '76, Neil A. Gold '70, Benjamin I. Green III '85, Daniel M. Kaseman '80, Heather McCumber Landesman '95, O'Rourke, Todd Rubin '04, Ellen Ruby Silverstone '65, Louis R. Walker Jr. '75, G'82 and Gregory J. Wilson '80.
Director of Design and Construction Virginia Denton has been instrumental in the creation of the Orange Grove. Following a Fall 2001 brainstorming meeting with the Alumni Association's Board of Directors, Denton developed the concept, design and recommended location for the monument.
Denton's "ability to understand and appreciate the emotional connection so many people have with SU, combined with her keen sense of design, enable us to present to the University community a very special space that for years to come will serve as a focal point of campus life," says O'Rourke,
For additional information contact Tricia Hopkins at 443-5304 or thopkins@syr.edu. Information on personalized engraving of the Orange Grove's 12-inch-by-12-inch pavers, sculpture contest requirements and artists' renderings of the Orange Grove are also available at http://orangegrove.syr.edu/.
