Today I got thinking about the idea of Pride. Not just the emotions pride stirs in us, but the ways in which we express it, the symbols we use to show it, and the different ways it can manifest. There are shared types of pride most of us have on a local or national level, and there are common traditions we use to express that pride and display our unity.

One of the most common and widely shared type of pride we all have is national, patriotic pride. This can, of course, manifest in different ways for different people. Some people are very proud to be Americans, especially if you have friends or family who are involved in the government or the armed forces. Someone very dear to me was in the Marines, so this is something I have a lot of personal experience with. Though even if you don’t know someone who has fought for our country, a lot of people still work hard to support our troops overseas.

Sometimes this sense of pride can be challenged, such as if you don’t agree with certain political decisions that have been made recently. Someone might feel that their pride has been reduced if, say, you’re a republican and don’t like the current democrat president, or if you are a democrat and didn’t like the former republican president. The same can apply to any elected office if the person you voted for didn’t get elected. However, what I think some people don’t realize is that even such emotions of disappointment don’t necessarily mean you’ve lost your pride. Part of pride is a desire for something better, and the fact that you care about a certain issue, law, political situation, and so on shows that you still have pride. Pride doesn’t always have to be about the way things are right now; pride can be about striving for an ideal that fits your sense of how things should be.

Regardless of how your pride manifests, whether it is stable or challenged, and how important it is to you, we all share certain expressions of this pride. One of the expressions can be the symbols that we use to portray it, such as the American flag. Then there are things like the pledge of allegiance, the national anthem, and things we consider to be “American,” ranging from baseball to apple pie. Some of these things are more commonly embraced than others, and some are more deep and meaningful than others, but they are all common symbols that most people recognize and understand.

Another common form of pride people can share is pride in your school. There are a lot of ways that this type of pride is similar to national pride. It has the same sense of unity and community, even if it’s on a smaller scale. It comes from being members of a group that gives us a joint identity, and differentiates us from others who aren’t a member of the same group. This concept works equally well if we compare members of one college to those of another, if we look at competing sports teams, or if we consider the group dynamics of a fraternity or sorority. People like to be members of a group that means something to them, and it helps us connect to others on the basis of that shared identity.

Just as with national pride, school pride has a number of common symbols that members use to identify themselves. These can range from school logos to seals to mascots.

Such symbols become easily recognizable, and are often portrayed to show off a student, teacher, or alumna’s connection to their school. We see these symbols everywhere around campus. All Rowan University forms and letters have such a symbol displayed somewhere on them, and so does the Rowan website. Students also often buy notebooks, folders, pens, and so forth that show a symbol of Rowan. Cars around campus can commonly be seen with a Rowan University sticker across the back windshield, showing off a student’s affiliation wherever they go. I also tend to spot a lot of cars all around South Jersey bearing the Rowan name. Alumni from years further back may also have a sticker that reads “Rowan College” from a time when the school was smaller than it is today, or “Glassboro State College,” from a time before the school was renamed after Henry Rowan’s donation in 1992.

Students even wear their pride on their sleeves… literally! The Rowan campus bookstore has a wide variety of Rowan clothing and gear, including hats, hoodies, shirts, pants, and sports clothes that allow Rowan students to show off their Rowan pride.

Colleges also have school colors. Rowan’s are gold and brown, as can be seen in all of these pictures of Rowan symbols and clothing. What a lot of people don’t know, however, is why those particular colors were chosen. They are the colors of a flower called brown-eyed susans. These flowers grew in abundance around the area where Rowan was first built.

Because the flowers were a part of the Glassboro area where Rowan grew into the place it is today, they represent Rowan’s birth and history. Thus, their colors were adopted as the school’s colors, and they grace all of the Rowan symbols to this day.

Sports teams are a great sense of pride (though some fair-weather fans might not feel that sense of pride if their team is having a bad season). Rowan’s sports teams are known as the Profs, and they’re represented by Whoo the Owl. The mascot was chosen as an owl because of Rowan’s history as an institution that focused on producing teachers through their education majors.

The Prof’s owl image is seen around campus as commonly as the brown and gold colors themselves. His face graces many of the campus web pages, and can also be found on Rowan clothing and other items just like the university name and logo.

Regardless of how you choose to display your pride, it’s something that you can share with others who are a part of the same community. That sense of connection and unity is something that you can carry with you for the rest of your life.