Around 200 students wearing cherry and silver participated in the annual student body photo that will hang in the SUB for a full year, ASUNM officials said.
“Lobo Day is basically composed of a couple different parts,” said Ryan Lindquist, associate director for Students Activities Center. “We take the big large picture that hangs in the Student Union Building for the entire year. We sing the birthday songs. We have the photo booth and a couple of giveaways.”
He said Lobo Day was the best opportunity for people to get together and celebrate the founding of their school.
UNM has come a long way since its founding in 1889. According to a report by Van Citters: Historic Preservation, L.L.C., a small business focusing on historic preservation, 75 students enrolled for the first fall semester. Those students became the first class to graduate in 1894.
This spring, 25,816 students enrolled at UNM, marking a 34,000 percent increase since the school’s opening
The historic report paints a picture of campus in those early years, and what the University meant to New Mexico.
“During the spring and summer of 1892, there arose on the wind-swept sand hills of Albuquerque’s East Mesa a blocky, three-story, red brick building with a massive pitched Roof,” the report described.
“Formally called ‘The University Main Building,’ it represented a new era in New Mexico – an era of ‘higher education’ in a state that had virtually no formal educational system at any level.”
Because of bad weather, this year’s birthday celebration had to be postponed from the traditional date of Feb. 28, according to a press release.
Arthur Nana, a Lobo Spirit volunteer, said he really enjoyed the event.
“I was really excited. It was an amazing event. I took some pictures and participated in the combined picture activity. It was fun,” he said.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Zubair Abro, a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology, said he was excited to be a part of the UNM community.
“UNM has grown a lot. The University, which started with just 75 students, has thousands of students now.”
Sayyed Shah is the assistant news editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at assistant-news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @mianfawadshah.
