Rose-Hulman is a school full of tradition. Last weekend we celebrated one of our greatest Homecoming traditions… the bonfire.

Freshman spend the week before homecoming constructing the bonfire out of about 5,000 railroad ties. It reaches 20-30 feet into the air and is crowned by an outhouse donated by someone in Terre Haute. Adding to the excitement, the sophamores attempt throughout the week to tear down the bonfire. 8:00 pm until 8:00 am is “open season”, but they have to get past the freshman who are guarding the bonfire with their lives (well, at least with nerf guns and maple syrup).

After the pep rally on Friday, everyone heads over to the bonfire to watch a fireworks display (which is amazing) and then the moment everyone has been waiting for… the lighting of the bonfire.

The fencing club decided to have some fun (it’s unfortunately hard to see here, but they’re fencing with fire brands).

Finally, “shiny guy” cooked us some marshmallows in the blaze.

EDIT: Turns out “shiny guy” is Daniel Sing, a grad student.

Watch him on YouTube

I question the sanity of putting a bunch of engineers and scientists near so much fire, but the event ended safely and everyone had a good time (nobody did anything too stupid).

Now I can’t wait until next year… when I get to give the new freshman a hard time!