Students show Pitt spirit with paint

It’s difficult to walk through campus these days and not see blue and gold paint splashed… It’s difficult to walk through campus these days and not see blue and gold paint splashed across windows. The source of this sudden burst of school spirit, a project called “Paint the Town Blue and Gold,” is the Blue and Gold Society.

The Blue and Gold Society is the honorary organization that governs the newly formed Student Alumni Association, and it aims to connect the Alumni Association with students on campus.

It is no coincidence that the sudden burst of panther paws on windows corresponds with the approach of homecoming festivities beginning today and ending on Sunday.

“We thought painting Oakland would be a really cool way to inspire Pitt Pride not only for students but for alumni returning for homecoming as well,” Stephen Gonzalez, president of the Blue and Gold Society, said.

“We really wanted to get everyone excited about homecoming and the game on Saturday,” MJ Lovett, adviser to the Blue and Gold Society and manager of the Student Alumni Association, agreed.

In order to paint the town, the society sought permission from Oakland businesses and the University administration.

“The response we received was overwhelming,” Bekah Bambling, chairperson of Paint the Town Blue and Gold, said. “We’ve painted windows on over 30 Oakland businesses and residence halls. We even made posters for every window in the union and every dorm room, which everyone should be receiving this week.

“The students have been so responsive as well. It’s so great to see the smiles on people’s faces as they walk down Forbes, looking at all the colors.”

The painting, which started last week, will stay up through homecoming and until Nov. 1.

“My dream would be that it would stay up forever,” Bambling said.

The sheer number of paw prints required a little creative engineering.

“We made giant stencils to make painting the panther paws a lot easier,” Bambling said. “But my favorite thing that we’ve painted is the panther in the window of Hemingway’s.”

The leaders of the Pitt Alumni Association feel very positive about the Blue and Gold Society and the Student Alumni Association, both in their first year as groups.

“As the Pitt Alumni Association is the gatekeeper of tradition,” Jana Sestili, director of Marketing for the Pitt Alumni Association, said, “painting the Town Blue and Gold is our way of inspiring Pitt Pride.”