You might’ve been attending college at our beloved University of West Florida for the majority of your college career, been to every Argopalooza, Blizzard Bash, Homecoming, seen the Golden Fleece, and even had your picture taken with Argie, but did you know there are some things that even Argie doesn’t know about UWF? Even if he did know, he wouldn’t be able to tell us! Thankfully, Dr. Ben Stubbs, associate director of the University Commons and Student Involvement, came to our rescue.
1. Our school colors were to match the sky and the sea.
Why the colors blue and green for the school? You might think that our proximity to the Gulf of Mexico and being called the Emerald Coast would be the standard reasoning. However, that’s not the case. The colors actually represent the sea and the sky. On certain versions of the university seal and presidential seal, the colors used to be lighter – a sky blue and a sea foam green. It was changed because we created a baseball team and had to order them uniforms, and it was much cheaper to create uniforms with a standard royal blue and Kelly green than the colors that were originally chosen. Those are the green and blue you see today.
2. The Cannon was given to UWF in the 1970s.
The thought that has been most popular is that the cannon was on a ship to be brought to a fort, but had fallen off. It was found in Pensacola Pass by a former student, Robert Annin, in 1970. He later donated it to the school.
Even though the cannon was there, the green area was called the Library Green that just so happened to have a cannon on it. It wasn’t until later that Dr. Hurt renamed it the Cannon Green to give it more prominence. It has become an iconic part of the UWF campus and a lot has happened with the cannon. For instance, we have the homecoming event, Cannon Fest, out on the Cannon Green every year and we even give out recognition awards called Cannon Citations.
Dr. Stubbs has his own personal mission for the cannon. He wants to see more cannons everywhere, especially in the bookstore, including little cannon figurines that we can put in our own homes.
“I have even encouraged students to create a contest to establish a cannon creed, but it hasn’t happened yet,” he said. Continuing, he told me that, “A lot of schools have a sort of symbol, above and beyond the athletic symbol. Some sort of place or something that matters. Something that’s holy. I want to see people getting engaged in front of the Cannon!”
He finished with his belief on why the cannon should be such a big deal for everyone, saying, “I want it to be an iconic part of the campus. And because a student found it, it makes perfect sense. It’s about students making a difference.”
3. We voted to get Argie the Argonaut
Argie was voted on by the students and faculty of the school because, according to Stubbs, “When we started to play sports, we needed a mascot.”
Argie was also selected because of our closeness to the water along with our military heritage, but pay attention to the name. It wasn’t Jason and the Argonauts. It was just the Argonauts themselves. We’re named after the crew, not the head. It’s all about the group, not just the individual, just like our school.
4. The Commons was built to resemble a ship.
The Commons was built in the shape of a boat, including angled sides and dark wood to give it that boat vibe. That was before they added on the auditorium, Conference Center and the Galley. It went from behind the fireplace, to the entrance to the Nautilus Market. Plus, all the rooms upstairs don’t just have numbers – like Room 260. They’re named after ancient Greek cities. “Even though nobody knows them,” Stubbs added.
5. We’ve always been UWF
We’ve always been known as the University of West Florida, unlike other schools whose names can be known to change at the flip of a coin. Though, our university is still a fairly young school, only being about 50 years old, when it initially opened, it only catered to the upper division classes. Not long after that, around 1969, it accepted all levels of students.
6. We have our own gator named Captain Thunder.
There’s an alligator that we have out in the swamp with a bad front leg. We have deemed him Captain Thunder. So just be careful when you go swimming, or be safe and refrain from swimming altogether!
7. The size of our campus is to our benefit
Our campus is rather different compared to other big name campuses around Florida. Even Stubbs makes a point of commenting, “When I visit other campuses, it always makes me really appreciate this school’s layout and space. It doesn’t have the old world grandeur and history. It has got a great, open, comfortable feel.”
The open space comes in handy. Here, we have created our own little town instead of being part of the downtown area. It’s not a mini city, it’s a campus. It also provides more one-on-one type teaching style. You don’t sit in a classroom with 300 plus students where the teacher doesn’t even know your name. Most classrooms can’t hold more than about 80 people.
8. We got the Nautilus shell because of a poem
The nautilus shell is all over campus, in case you haven’t noticed! One of the founders of UWF was inspired by the poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. called “The Chambered Nautilus.” The whole poem is about the growth and progress of the shell, because each chamber is bigger than the last. It correlates to the growth and progress of us as students and faculty. It also has ties into nature, math and science.
If you knew all of these, then you are a UWF superstar. And if you want to find out more, check out Argopedia on the UWF Admissions website.