Feature photo by DeAsia Powell
Story by DeAsia Powell
An MTSU tradition returned Saturday as 75 students boarded a Memphis-bound bus to cheer on the Blue Raiders as the team battled the Memphis Tigers. The True Blue road rallies have not been offered to students since 2015, and showed no signs of picking back up after COVID.
“The purpose was to provide fun experiences for our students to travel and support MTSU teams,” Danny Kelley, vice president of student affairs, said.
Seeking the return of a classic tradition, SGA Communications Director Brianna Campbell proposed the idea to Kelley. In collaboration with Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. Khalilah Doss, planning for the rally began.
In addition to resuming an old tradition, Campbell wanted to restore support for the Blue Raiders in her hometown of Memphis.
“Bringing the Blue Raiders to Memphis meant a lot to me,” she said. “I’m glad that we were able to bring back road rallies. We got good engagement and are hoping to do more in the future to support Blue Raider Athletics.”
At 11:30 a.m., students loaded buses in the Rutherford Lot. The free and all-inclusive trip included sack lunches and a goody bag containing a T-shirt, pompoms, fans and cooling towels for the heat and ponchos for the rain.
Despite tricky weather, students arrived at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium in Memphis around 5 p.m. excited and ready to support the Blue Raiders. Campbell encouraged team spirit by teaching students the fight song. During the game, students shook their pom poms, cheered and sang. The Blue Raiders didn’t get the win, but the students still brought hometown excitement to the visitor’s section in Memphis.
Students attended the road trip hoping to try something new and travel to a new city — it was many students’ first time in Memphis. They also anticipated making new friends and wanted to take advantage of the free day of fun. They may have experienced another Blue Raider loss, but made plenty of happy memories to take home.
DeAsia Powell is a contributing writer for MTSU Sidelines.
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