A familiar name graduates

from George Fox

Reprinted, with permission, from The Newberg Graphic

By AMANDA NEWMAN
   NEWBERG — George Fox University graduated 339 seniors last month. And although many felt nostalgia mixed in with their excitement, one graduate thinks he has felt a stronger connection to the university than most other students.
   His name is George Fox.
   There are three questions people always ask when they meet Fox, he said:
  “Did you come here just because of your name?”
  “Do you get that a lot?”
   “Are you related to George Fox?”
  “It’s quite entertaining,” Fox said. “I can tell what question is coming next.”
   The answers: “not really,” “definitely,” and “I’m not sure.”
   Fox, 22, of Aloha, siad he doesn’t know if he is related to the original George Fox — his family has traced its English history back to the area where the Quaker founder was from, but no direct connections have been made.
   Fox’s family first discovered the university when they moved to Oregon from Southern California 13 years ago. Fox didn’t plan to apply to the school, but his parents told him he had to. He was leaning toward a state school, but GFU gave a “pretty convincing financial argument” for why it would not be more expensive, and he gave in.
   The school didn’t throw him any additional help because of his name, he said —in fact, it was almost the opposite. They lost parts of his application twice and Fox wasn’t formally accepted until one month before school started.
  “I think that had a lot to do with my name,” he said. The system well might have been confused – although there are two other “George Foxes” in the university system, both were donors, Fox said.
   And the welcome Fox received on campus more than made up for any difficulties he had getting there. Checking in his first day, he was met with exclamations of “Oh, we’ve heard of you!” and personally escorted through the process. He would experience similiar reactions often throughout his time at the school.
  “I came here and I had no friends, but it was like I got an instant popularity,” he said. “It’s kind of like being an unofficial mascot.”
   The mechanical engineering major said he and friends had fun messing with freshmen, who suspected he was joking when he introduced himself.   “Actually, so do most of the professors,” he added, explaining they would often hesitate at his name during roll call the first day of class.
   His parents and grandparents also enjoyed the connection, wearing and displaying merchandise with slogans such as “Proud George Fox parent.” Fox himself made sure to buy a “George Fox” sweatshirt that did not say “university.”
  “It’s fun seeing everyone else wear my name .... I don’t think many people can say they’ve seen that,” he said. But the connection also has had its down sides.
  “It’s interesting just walking around campus and hearing your name. You have to get used to telling the difference,” Fox said, explaining that it was hard to adapt. “I don’t turn around every time I hear my name now, and people have to say it two or three times.”
   Overall, it’s been a fun experience.
  “I would say that to a large extent I do feel a deeper connection than a lot of people do,” he said. “For most people, it’s just a campus.”
   And George Fox University experienced another first on graduation weekend, when there were three George Foxes on campus — the graduating Fox was joined by his grandfather and uncle, both also named George Fox.