President's Office

Our class took a trip to the fourth floor of Tower which includes the President’s Office. This definitely was one of my favorite trips that our class has taken. Not too many students, here at U.T., can say that they have visited the President’s Office. Not only was it fun but it was also educational. I learned a lot about the history of the University and of the Tower. Our excursion to the fourth floor enlightened me on the responsibilities of the President and other facts about the University and Tower.

The first thing that we did was examine the outer architecture of the Tower and its’ symbolism. I noticed the shell right in the middle of course symbolizing our pilgrimage here at U.T. and of course through our careers. The Tower is definitely famous here at U.T. symbolizing excellence to me. “It stands as a symbol of victory or defeat after athletic contests, and it honors special academic accomplishments” (Course Anthology, 380).

We then moved on the fourth floor. We got to sit inside the Stark Library. It looked really cool with all the books and artifacts. All the books were very rare and unique. We then moved on the offices and learned about the different college symbols on the ceilings and windows. I thought it was really strange to have symbols on the ceilings representing the history of dress and printing. I didn’t really like going through the all the college symbols because I didn’t see how that related to the class.

After that, we got to tour the President’s Office which was the best part in my opinion. It was so amazing to see all his pictures with the Presidents and of course, Vince Young. He had a lot of special artifacts and gifts that he had received. We definitely noticed the gavel that he had representing leadership and hammering thoughts into unity. We examined the ceiling which was beautiful. There were two women up there. One represented the Arts and the other represented Science. We then traveled outside to the President’s rooftop garden. I thought it was so beautiful. It had the most amazing view ever! It just made so happy to be able to see the whole campus and of downtown Austin. There was beautiful well there and the plants were gorgeous.

Overall, I thought that this excursion was probably the most memorable and precious to me. It made me realize how lucky I am to go to a University like this. It made me value my education so much more and appreciate the little details around me. I now know that I have a long pilgrimage ahead of me but it’s worth it.