Apple Day

Event details

Join us for the longest running Pittsburg State University tradition: Apple Day!

Held each year since 1907, Apple Day celebrates important events in the early days of the university that paved the way to its existence today.   

Pittsburg State was first located in a borrowed building in downtown Pittsburg. The university’s founder, R.S. Russ, along with the Pittsburg mayor, lobbied to get lawmakers in Topeka to pass an appropriation that would fund a permanent building.     

During his lobbying of the Legislature, Russ broke a rule: he sat in a legislator’s seat. The Legislature fined the Pittsburg delegation a barrel of apples, which Russ and the mayor paid and distributed among the lawmakers.    

The Legislature approved the request for funding, and when Russ and the mayor returned to Pittsburg, a joyful assembly of students fined the faculty a barrel of apples, which faculty paid and distributed to the students.  

Faculty have done so every year since, and will do so on Apple Day again this year, courtesy of Marrone’s Produce!    

11 a.m. — Ribbon cutting: Class Gift 

A brief ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Original Broadway Entrance to Pittsburg State University in front of Russ Hall will be held. 

The Original Broadway Entrance was erected in 1940 by the Work Projects Administration and Kansas State Teachers College, as PSU was known then.  It was a gift from the senior classes of 1936, 1937, 1938, and 1940. Senior class gifts from the classes of 2000 and 2003-2008 helped fund its recent renovation. 

The ribbon-cutting, open to the public, will feature brief remarks from PSU President Steve Scott and members of the PSU Student Government Association. The classes involved in the renovation have been invited to attend. 

11:30 a.m. — Apple Day Apple Dessert Contest  

PSU students, staff, and faculty will compete for bragging rights and prizes that include the coveted Apple Day aprons. Register by noon on Feb. 25 at 12 p.m. via this online form: https://pittstate.campuslabs.com/engage/submitter/form/start/518327 

2 p.m. — Distinguished Service Award Reception 

A public reception will be held at the Wilkinson Alumni Center to honor the recipient of this year’s Distinguished Service Award. 

3 p.m. — Apple Day Ceremony  

The Apple Day Ceremony will be held in the Crimson and Gold Ballroom of the Overman Student Center and will include recognition of the Good Apple Award, Distinguished Service Award, Outstanding Faculty Awards, Voya Outstanding Employee Recognition, and the Golden Gorilla Awards.  

Recipients of the Professors Beyond the Classroom Grant will be introduced, and the winners of a scholarship giveaway and the apple dessert contest will be announced, followed by the ringing of the Centennial Bell Tower by award winners. The ceremony is open to the public.

Contact information

Mary Mercer

https://www.pittstate.edu/office/campus-activities/index.html

620-235-4795