UTEP to celebrate TCM Day, a longtime student tradition

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) - The University of Texas at El Paso’s longest-running student tradition, TCM Day returns this Friday, March 13.

UTEP says the daylong series of events pays tribute to the University’s roots in mining and includes the whitewashing of the “M” on the mountain north of Sun Bowl Stadium and the Team Mining Challenge, a race on campus that immerses participants in the rigors and challenges faced by past miners.

TCM Day is celebrated on campus every March in observance of St. Patrick’s Day.

The tradition began in 1920 when UTEP was known as the Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy, or TCM.

Officials with the university says the event is an annual rite of passage to initiate new student engineers and geologists into the Order of St. Patrick, the patron saint of engineers.

The following are events occurring on TCM Day:

·      10:10 - 10:20 a.m.: Serenade the President, Administration Building

·      10:55 - 11:45 a.m.: Whitewashing the “M” Sun Bowl Drive

·      12:30 - 1:35 p.m.: Team Mining Challenge, begins at UGLC room 106