TCM honors UTEP's engineering past, future

At the bottom of the Engineering Building last week, voices could be heard shouting across a darkened room at images projected on a far wall. Suspended, there was the picture of what would be this year's T-shirt design for The College of Mines Day and everyone had an opinion.

After some good-natured shouting, the design was completed: a green shirt with a shamrock and 2008 on the back. Across the front reads: "Turning slime into steel since 1914." The room filled with laughter and slight applause.

And it's a good thing that's done. There are still a lot of things to decide before the annual TCM Day, a UTEP tradition that has engineering students honor UTEP's origin as the Texas College of Mines, while forging brotherly and sisterly bonds amongst fellow future engineers.

TCM Day will take place March 17. The day borrows from other engineering colleges' traditions of honoring St. Patrick, the patron saint of engineers, refered to by them as St. Pat. Students wear green that day, with new initiates painting themselves with green paint and participating in day-long competitions and tasks.

Christina Pina, senior metallurgical engineering major and an organizer for this year's TCM Day events, said the celebration at UTEP dates back to 1949 when the college first began expanding beyond mines and metallurgy and liberal arts programs were instituted on campus. The college also changed its name to Texas Western College.

"The dean of engineers painted a line across the university and said, 'on that side, you can call yourself whatever you want; on this side, we will always be TCM,'" Pina said.

So began the traditional rivalry between the college and liberal arts majors otherwise known as Peedoggies, as they are called by engineers.

Today, the joke, "friends don't let friends become liberal arts majors," still persists, amongst engineering students, but organizers said the rivalry only really exists during TCM Day. They said the day is really about having pride in their chosen career path and commiserating on all the work it takes to get there.

"We're not better than everyone else, we're just so proud of our college," said Arturo Arias, senior civil engineering major.

The day of seeming debauchery - filled with loud paint-filled demonstrations on campus, engineering Olympics, capped off with a trip to area bars - seems almost the antithesis of behavior commonly attributed to studious engineers. Organizers said that's the point.

"The dean of engineers painted a line across the university and said, 'on that side, you can call yourself whatever you want; on this side, we will always be TCM.'" -Christina Pina, senior metallurgical engineering major

The engineering majors said the shared coursework majors have to undergo to complete their degree can be incredibly stressful. In class, students are competing against one another for grades and then must compete with each other again for limited internships or job positions. Events like TCM help relieve the stress of competition and unite engineering majors in a way other colleges can't boast.

The day is steeped in tradition. Before new initiates can earn their green card and join the TCM guard, they must show up for events that begin at seven in the morning. They wear white T-shirts that get covered in green paint, bring a toothbrush because St. Pat wants to see their smiles, a $3 offering to St. Pat that will be used for a final TCM meal, and must also bring canned food to donate to a local charity.

The students also clean the arroyo underneath the Engineering Building and repaint the giant white "M" on the mountain near the Sun Bowl. Finally, they must kiss the green-painted Blarney Stone before receiving their coveted green card.

All of the day's events are necessary to guarantee the coming of St. Pat. Details of the saint's appearance this year are secret, but past unveilings of the saint have included his riding onto campus as an Egyptian Pharaoh or fighting Star Wars-style to the sounds of cheering students.

"It gets really creative," said Paola Gandara, senior industrial engineering major.

The student selected to portray St. Pat each year has an initiation of his own at area bars the night before and he spends the night on campus in preparation for the next day's events.

TCM's past is commemorated all over campus with the traditional painting of the green stripe between the Engineering and Liberal Arts buildings. Splashes of green paint on rocks and walls and a large green shamrock painted on the ground outside of the Computer Science building tell of TCM's past.

"It's something you'll be able to carry with you," Pina said.

Prior to TCM, engineering students will host the semi-formal Remember the Green: A Night with Alumni on March 14. The evening, sponsored with help from the UTEP Student Alumni Association and the Office of the Dean of Students, invites current and former students to meet one another and share their memories of TCM and UTEP. The event takes place at 5:30 p.m. at the Heritage House at UTEP.

"It's so memorable for them to actually come back and relive their experiences with us," Gandara said.Student organizers hope to have Richard Martinez, deputy director of the future forces division of White Sands Missile Range, in attendance. Martinez is a 1979 graduate of the College of Engineering and 2007's Homecoming Golden Nugget Award winner.

Alumni can still vividly recall when they had to cover themselves with paint. The memories bridge the gap between the guards of St. Pat old and new.

"You get to just forget about being proper. People just start singing and they get in the mood. They start acting a bit crazy," Arias said. "That's how you know the true spirit of TCM is there, when you're having fun."

TCM is open to all engineering students, freshmen to seniors, and to students from the science and geological sciences areas as well. Organizers said the number of students who participate in TCM each year fluctuates between 50 and 100 people. They said students who participate feel more included and thus are more likely to finish their studies.