Friday Focus: Experience UAF via Nanook Traditions
Three engineering seniors who created the ignition mechanism for the 2025 Starvation Gulch.
April 17, 2026
— By Josh Hovis, Wood Center for Student Engagement director
Nanook Traditions are more than a collection of events – they are experiences in which the ideas, hopes, and joy of our students are made manifest. In a place where winter stretches long, homework stretches longer and the landscape demands both respect and grit – our traditions become the commitments and threads that bind us together, transforming a vast and sometimes isolating environment into a shared experience and memory.
There is something powerful about the traditions we create to celebrate, to cheer, to laugh and to serve. Whether it’s braving the elements for a campus event, participating in time-honored celebrations, or simply showing up for one another, the concept of tradition invites us into moments that feel larger than ourselves. They remind us that even in the most remote corners of the world, connection is not only possible – it is essential.
Nanook Traditions (with a capital N, T and â„¢) are the experiences shaped, crafted and breathed to life by students. These experiences ebb and flow with the times, the audience and the need. When you see an event on a schedule for Starvation Gulch or SpringFest (and all of the events in between), those experiences are created by brave (or fearless) students taking chances. What an awesome and joyous responsibility we have to support and celebrate their effort by showing up and saying “Yes! and…â€
Students participate in a mud-volleyball game. The ever-popular mud volleyball started as mud hockey in the late 1950s.
Traditions endure through a shared history and the spirit behind them. They are built on a foundation of service and care, carried forward by those who understand that creating meaningful experiences for others is one of the most lasting contributions we can make. Each shared laugh, each collective challenge, each moment of celebration becomes part of a story that extends far beyond a single semester or academic year. Tradition is often forged by the courage to engage, to participate, and to invest in something bigger than ourselves. They encourage us to step outside our routines and rituals into spaces where memories are made – lasting long after the event ends.
The true impact of traditions lies in their emotional resonance. Years from now, it won’t just be the specifics we remember, but the feeling of shared purpose and being part of something enduring. That is the magic of Nanook Traditions: they create not just experiences, but lasting connections – anchors in time that remind us of who we were, who we became, and the community that helped shape us.
Find a reason to celebrate your education and seize your adventure.
Friday Focus is a column written by a different member of UAF's leadership team every week. On occasion, a guest writer is invited to contribute a column.