This summer 393 incoming freshmen participated in a camp focused on teaching the traditions and history of the University and leadership and team building skills.The ninth annual Student Tigers Rallying, Interacting, and Promoting Education and Service, or STRIPES, has seen tremendous growth since its beginning in 2000 when it had 65 participants.  The number of attendees increased to 180 by 2004. The program grew in 2007 to include two sessions each summer, said Michelle Eldredge, associate director of Campus Life and chairwoman of STRIPES. In 2007, the first session had 155 students and the second session had 218. This past summer the first session had 173 students and 220 in the second session.STRIPES received a $1.1 million endowment in 2005 from Charles Barney, an engineer from Texas, Eldredge said.  The endowment gives 4 percent of the $1.1 million each year, which amounts to about $44,000 a year, she said.STRIPES’s growth is partly because of the endowment, which is used to offer students scholarships to the four-day camp based on their Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.The group leaders at the camp teach the University’s history and traditions and give tours of campus, said group leader Carly Foreman, communication disorders and French junior.”STRIPES teaches everything an incoming freshman needs to feel more comfortable at LSU,” Foreman said.The incoming freshmen enter Tiger Stadium and learn cheers, have mock lectures with professors and play games featuring relays and tug of war contests against each other, Foreman said.”The first day the students don’t know anybody, but by the third day they are jumping up and down on chairs they are so excited,” Eldredge said.At both sessions of STRIPES, two participants were awarded the “Most Spirited Award.”Brian Baudoin, political science freshman, was one winner of the award.Baudoin, who is from Washington, D.C., joined STRIPES not knowing anyone. He said he was afraid he would not fit in because he’s from a different city.He said the group welcomed him within the first few hours, and it was fun”I felt like I was home and this is where I wanted to spend my next four years,” Baudoin said after his STRIPES experience.Miracle Johnson, mass communication freshman, was another winner of the “Most Spirited Award.””STRIPES should be mandatory for all freshmen” she said. “You learn the history of the campus and a better sense of the college you chose.” Students join STRIPES by registering online at www.lsu.edu/stripes.—-Contact Cassie Hutchinson at [email protected]