There is something exhilarating about being a small part of a long chain of joy-filled traditions. You never know who has done it before, but you know that they desired to keep it going, and the task has now fallen to you to keep it alive.
We have felt that call, and we feel we should pass this on…
From borderline-illegal escapades and somewhat calmer pillow fights to goldfish in a dorm sink and helicopters flying in a small, chiseled boulder above a homecoming football game, APU has a rich history of traditions.
As current students, we live in a community that used to uphold those traditions. While some may have fallen away recently, there are many alumni who have personally experienced the culture and excitement they create.
To upperclassmen on campus, there is almost no person more recognizable than Charlie Max Reynolds ’25. Reynolds fully embraced the community of APU during his time here and was instrumental in bringing fun campus events to life.
“[The importance of tradition is to] create, promote, and preserve culture,” Reynolds said. “The kind of traditions we have say things about who we are. Traditions become the marketing for the culture we want on this campus, and then it preserves the culture because it is a tradition.”
For the last two years of his time at APU, Reynolds hosted a Capture-the-Flag game for his birthday, which always landed on the first weekend of the school year, but it wasn’t just a birthday party with his close friends; it was a birthday party for the entire APU community to come and enjoy.
“My hope is that people would have a place to come in and enjoy life with people on campus, right off the bat in the school year,” Reynolds said.
He was specifically thinking about freshmen who were coming in and didn’t know about what APU was about, who they were going to meet, or who were going to become their close friends.
“The hope for Capture-the-Flag is that it’s something you can come and be a part of and it’s not intimidating at all,” Reynolds said. “Bring a friend […] all are welcome, and then we’re going to get together and you’re going to meet a bunch of different people in this cool setting. My goal was that not a single freshman would be sitting in their dorm alone their first weekend of college.”
Photo courtesy of Gissel Lopez.
I (Luke) know for me, this tradition was the event during my freshman year where I met most of the people that I call close friends to this day. I met Reynolds that morning. Six hours later, my friends and I were playing Capture-the-Flag across the entirety of East Campus with more than 50 APU students we had never met. What started as an open invite birthday party has now become a lasting campus tradition, as this year—even after Reynolds’ graduation—over 60 students gathered together to participate in Capture-the-Flag, meeting new friends and participating in some healthy competition, and the tradition will live on next year.
Perhaps the greatest tradition—and one that has been resurfacing—is the famed APU Rock. A Rock appeared at the 2025 Midnight Madness event, sparking online clamor among alumni regarding its legitimacy. Most importantly, wild stories were shared by APU alumni of when the Rock was in their possession.
An old Zu News article dates the beginning of the tradition to 1967, when a granite stone with the seal of “Azusa Bible College” was gifted to the university. Reynolds calls this “the preeminent APU tradition [that] links the generations better than anything else.”
Alumni of the university see possession of the Rock as the crowning achievement of their undergraduate years.
I (Luke) gave a campus tour to an alum and his daughter, where he detailed the account of when he and his friends brought the Rock to former APU President Richard Felix’s office. They took pictures, photoshopped President Felix’s face on top of all of theirs, and printed hundreds of copies to paste around campus.
It seems Felix also remembers this story. In a recent LinkedIn post, he wrote: “One night during my presidency a group of students asked to meet me in my office at Midnight. To my surprise the ROCK was on the floor with 15 male students cheering my entrance. What a memory.”
Matthew Browning, MA ‘94, EdD—the nine-and-a-half fingered, bearded, Harley rider who serves as the director of Commuter Life and is a legend on campus—has been here for “hmmph” many years and is someone who always lights up your day. He also actively orchestrated one of the most infamous events that has happened on APU’s campus. He rented a helicopter, lifted the Rock out of the bed of a truck, and then at halftime lowered it onto center field. The crowd went absolutely crazy. Reflecting back he described it as “an APU classic.” An alum on Instagram remembers that day: “Last time I saw that thing, it was being carried away by a helicopter.”
When talking about some of his other favorite traditions, he mentioned many missions or service trips that students would go on, including but not limited to the Mexicali, Walkabout, and Bridges programs, which originated from student traditions.
Browning had an energy when discussing these, as he felt their impact. He saw how service brought students together and how it benefitted the communities they were in. I (Travis) even think of the missions trips we do today, from Ensenada and Kenya to Thailand, and I am in awe of what God has and continues to accomplish through these programs.
When asked about other traditions, Browning brought up quite a few that are not part of your normal day. Before homecoming weekend, he explained that the residence halls would design a float and do a parade around the track before the homecoming game. He was even an announcer for it and made it sound like a Rose Parade. Residence Life would have bed races around the track, and it was an awesome day for the guy who got a big trophy for winning the bed race.
“It was outstanding community,” Browning said. “You shed blood, sweat, and tears with people you love. Anytime as a group you’re working on something together […] you have pride that you worked on this together. Even if you didn’t win you pushed a bed around a track with 12 guys.”
Candela is also a core part of APU. I remember coming in through that gate, lighting my candle, and feeling like I was at the start of something amazing.
“[Former APU President John Wallace] made us put that gate together, maybe a dozen years ago now, maybe more… that’s a newish tradition,” Browning said.
There’s also Midnight Madness, Fall Fest, Midnight Breakfast, and so many other fun events that have become such a core part of each semester that they just feel like something we do.
“Every tradition started somewhere [and] a tradition is only a tradition because someone started it and kept it going,” Browning said.
So what now? The fate of our traditions is now up to us. Who knows? Maybe we will be the ones to join in with long-standing traditions and add some of our own for generations to come…