Scottish Rite Dormitory

There’s still time! Order your 2025-2026 SRD yearbook here.

It’s SRD Saturday Story Time!
Back to the day of “posture” contests, fashion shows, and even a beauty pageant to help support the UT swim team. All featuring SRD girls.

Always a pleasure to host Texas Cheer Camp!

It’s SRD Saturday Story Time!

Sit back, relax, and enjoy these adventures of epic proportions brought to you by past SaRDines.

Caught in the Act

During the mid ’70s, streaking (running naked) was a popular activity on campus. One night we heard some girls say that two residents were streaking through the main living room wearing only paper bags on their heads. We all ran
downstairs to look and saw them just as they were running back up the stairs. We guessed who one of them was right away because she had been to the lake that day and had badly sunburned legs. The paper bag on her head must have
obscured her vision because as she ran up the stairs she, tripped, fell, and broke her leg.
I wonder what she told the doctor?

—BECKY SHANNON EADDY
1973–1975

More Broken Bones

One night an SRDine wanted to leave the dorm after the front door was locked for the night, so she decided to jump out the window of a first floor sunroom. The distance to the ground was more than she had expected and instead of a fun night on the town, she got a broken leg.

—ANNONYMOUS
1972–1975

The Physics Lesson

Bored from an early semester ice storm that held us hostage in the dorm, my friend and I decided to salvage the day by sledding down the steep driveway to the lower parking lot. Searching for the perfect sled we decided on two green
laundry baskets. After a few minutes on the gently sloping parking lot hill, we decided that was not offering enough thrill so we went over to investigate the walkway that led from the lower lot
to the upper level. At one point the walk is at about a 50 degree angle (or so it seems when you’re trying to hike up it on a hot summer day), with a sharp turn about half-way down.

We calculated the risks for a few minutes, created a plan of action and decided to give it a try. Our baskets fit side-by-side on the track, which was perfect, we thought, as we could “help” each other if things got out of control. About a millisecond after shoving off, it was apparent that
things were indeed out of control, and there was nothing we could do about it. Somehow my basket passed in front of hers, and I went under the railing, whacking my hand on the iron
post and crashing into the ivy on the other side of the path. She managed to make it further down before landing in the groundcover. This should have been a sign that enough was enough, but being the daredevil that she was, she hopped up and said she was giving it another try.

Again we thought, calculated, and devised a plan for her next attempt. The idea was for me to stand near the post where she had left the track the first time, reach out and push her so she would continue to stay on the path and then we’d see how far she’d make it. We failed to consider the laws of physics, especially the one about “a body in motion tends to stay in motion” and, in this case, on the same trajectory. She was ready at the top of the hill, and I was standing in the ivy ready to push her out of harm’s way. What happened next took literally three seconds. She came flying at me, I did my best to push her, her ankle slammed into the iron post, the basket crashed into the post, I fell backwards, and she landed sprawled in the flower bed next to me. Did I mention the loud “pop” as her leg hit the post?

She broke her leg right above the ankle and had a huge gash in her shin where the bone was visible.
She refused to let me take her to the hospital because of the icy streets, and she sat for a day with her broken leg wrapped in an ankle splint.
The next day when we finally braved the icy conditions and went to the emergency room, the doctor laughed at us and asked if we had been “totally smashed” at the time. We sweetly told him we were actually completely sober. It was almost too much for him to believe. Perhaps physics should be a required class for all UT students because we certainly didn’t grasp the concepts!

—AMIE STONE KING
1993–1997

Our friend Meredith, after hearing our story, admitted to having rollerbladed down the ramp. It wasn’t as fun as she thought it would
be either.

Don’t worry parents! That path has a 20’ foot beside it now.

It’s SRD Saturday Story Time!
As we mentioned in the Friday Fun Fact, the Sardine was the SRD yearbook from 1922 until the late 1960s. Last year we revived it and are so excited to offer this to our residents. Hopefully next year we’ll be able to recruit some of them to write their memories for the book like this young woman did in 1935.

An Ode to Inconvenience

Have you noticed my friends of the dorm.
That on cold days the room’s never warm?

Haven’t you found it as certain as fate
If you leave for a second, you’re minus a date?

It never fails that while you’re dressing,
You suddenly find the outfit needs pressing.

And always around the close of the week—
A lack of towels, a condition of which need I speak?

The candy, carried over from last Sunday’s meal, Has melted all over my new stocking heel.

I suppose as you read this you wonder why I don’t pick up and leave SRD high and dry. The answer’s as plain as the nose on your face. I’m honestly crazy about the place.

—THE SARDINE
Volume 13, 1935

It’s SRD Saturday Story Time!
If you want to be exactly factual, SRD as a place to house young woman at UT has existed for 106 years. A boarding house was used while the “Grande Dame” was constructed, finished in 1922 making it 104 years old. But there is no question that for well over 100 years SRD has been the place for making and growing lifelong friendships!

The Secret
In the spring of 1946, I was only sixteen, and ready to begin my freshman year at UT, my father’s alma mater. I had a confirmed room at SRD, but my best friend from North Dallas High School, Mary Strasburger, had been told there
were no more vacancies and she would have to be on a waiting list. I was so disappointed.

Someone kept a secret, however, and on the day my family was helping me move into the dorm I found out that Mary had not only gotten a room, but she was my roommate! What joy! We fixed up our room with rose-colored Bates bedspreads* and matching curtains and settled down to our
studies. Mary went on to get her R.N. at Galveston and later became the mother of six! Her husband, Dr. Robert Cade, invented Gatorade at the University of Florida. I went on to get my B.S. in home economics, married, and became
the mother of two. I pursued an early career in home furnishings, and a later one in nursing home therapeutic recreation. Mary and I are still best friends sixty years later!

—MARJORIE KNIGHT WATSON
1946–1947

*In 1850, the Boston Industrialist Benjamin Bates formed Bates Manufacturing Company, a textile mill in Lewiston, Maine. Bates of Maine became one of the great producers in the world of woven bedspreads. When the Bates Mill closed in 2001, a group of former employees formed Maine Heritage Weavers and continue to produce the
Bates style bedspread.

*Mary Strasburger Cade passed away in 2021
Read more about her here:
https://www.gainesville.com/obituaries/pgai0059187

Continuing our look back at the year at SRD.
Then we had some first day of school fun, celebrated when Taylor got engaged, and got ready for some football! 

We had a fabulous year at SRD! Join us for the next few days as we walk through all the fun. Today we start with move-in, recruitment, RA welcome activities, fun food, a campus safety training, and the first day of school.

SaRDines rule! Big congratulations to Morgan, SRD RA, for being part of the “Dean’s Dozen.” We are so proud.

Congratulations to our Dean’s Dozen Award recipients! 🤘

This distinguished recognition honors students who have demonstrated exceptional service to programs and resources within the Office of the Dean of Students, while making positive contributions to our campus community 🧡

We proudly celebrate the dedication, leadership and impact of this year’s Dean’s Dozen:

- Dante Barajas
- Elizabeth Cox
- Cassidy Franzoi
- Morgan Hernandez
- Sofia Lozano
- Kaitlyn Marsh
- Ashley Mascorro
- Benet Plange Matteer
- Trenton Mosby
- Vaishnavi Penta
- Lillian Robinson
- Ivan Alejandro Rocha

This morning we said farewell to our last few residents of the 2025–2026 school year. We hope everyone has a great summer and we’re especially proud of our graduates who walk the stage this weekend! 🧡🤘🏻