Chelsea's Journalism Coursework

University of Nevada students giving out Mackay Week 2010 t-shirts for free during the Mackay Games in front of the Joe Crowley Student Union

Mackay Week
Written and photographed by: Chelsea Day

As the end of spring semester comes to a halt, students across the University of Nevada, Reno campus get prepared for the annual festivities that occur during Mackay Week.

Mackay Week is defined as a time of tradition and celebration for UNR students, faculty and alumni. It is to recognize the importance that the Mackay family has done is order to help progress the university.

“Traditions are passed down from generation to generation,” Louise Yi, 19, community health science major said. “The tradition of Mackay Week helps remind students of the founding fathers of our school and what they have done to better our university.”

After the multi-million dollar success from mining, John Mackay passed away in 1902. Mackay’s son Clarence and daughter-in-law Marie Louise contributed funding in order to assemble the Mackay School of Mines building at UNR.

It’s clear to say that the Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering have a deep line of tradition that has continued for over 100 years.

One of the competitions at the Mackay Games was to shovel dirt into a metal barrel

“Knowing that I’m in a school that has an impressive past and has a lot of meaning, is really powerful,” Joshua Adams, 19, engineering major said. “In a way, it feels like I’m a part of the Mackay tradition just by being a part of his school.”

Tradition is a compelling aspect of life that brings people together. People with different backgrounds, pasts, ethnicities, likes, dislikes, ambitions and hopes all have a way of coming together with a simple similarity such as a tradition. Whether it is a large tradition such as Mackay Week that the UNR campus celebrates every spring or a tradition as small as watching football as a family on Thanksgiving Day while turkey is in the oven and the stuffing is being prepared, tradition is a way for people to join together and celebrate different customs of life.

Sawing competition at the Mackay Games in front of the Joe Crowley Student Union

Bekah Pingle, 18, economics major said that Mackay Week brings school unity and school spirit to the UNR campus every spring semester by celebrating important people, such as the Mackay family, who have helped make the university grow and succeed to the highest power.

“School unity helps students remember our roots,” Pingle said. “It reminds us of all the new buildings such as the Joe Crowley Student Union and the Knowledge Center. Mackay Week reminds us of where we came from as a university and how far we’ve come since the school was founded in the 1800’s.”

The University of Nevada has been around for over a century and the students are just as proud to be labeled as a part of the “Wolf pack” as they were in 1874 when the university was founded. Even though the campus looks completely different, the tradition that is deeply buried in every student’s, alumni’s and faculty’s hearts will remain no matter how far the university may come in the future.

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