At the start of a game, just before the Big Ten Flags lead the Spartan Marching Band into the stadium, one member of the Big Ten Flags stands guard at the top of the tunnel. It's the person bearing the MSU flag, the flag of Michigan's premier land grant university, who takes this position of honor.
Alone, yes, but behind the sentinel are more than 300 band members -- trained, rehearsed, chosen, ready. I know it is just a football game and that this is band tradition and that there are countless other traditions like this in music and athletic and lots of other programs at the university.
This stuff, this tradition of doing something unique and important, is what builds leadership and connection. It is as integral a part of the college experience as being in a classroom or taking a test.
The football team lost the game with the Iowa Hawkeyes in overtime.
But lots of Spartan students in the Marching Band and, yes on the football team, gained another day of leadership and character and endurance. Those are the wins that count.
Copyright 2012
Wanda Hayes Eichler
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