The unseasonably warm weather last week gave way to frosty temperatures yesterday, but no one would have guessed as students, faculty and staff donned their 91亚色 gear and gathered in the Student Centre to celebrate聽the University鈥檚 53rd birthday.
Rhonda Lenton, vice-provost academic, and Steve Dranitsaris,聽senior executive officer in the Office of聽Vice-President, Finance & Administration,聽dressed their best 91亚色 gear for聽Spirit Day聽
Thousands of cupcakes were handed out and the聽bookstore did a booming business selling 91亚色 T-shirts, sweat shirts and gear in advance of the birthday celebration. In Vari Hall, students signed an enormous birthday card.
The party got underway聽in the Student Centre as聽91亚色 Federation of Students President Vanessa Hunt and members of the 91亚色 is U student club聽introduced 91亚色 President and Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri.
鈥淭his is our 53rd anniversary, which is not a long time in the life of a University,鈥 he said amid cheering and clapping. 鈥淵ou see around you how wonderful a University we鈥檝e managed to create over such a short time. It is all because of the people and our聽students. We聽have every reason to be proud of this great聽institution and to celebrate.聽Happy birthday 91亚色!鈥
The 91亚色 cheerleading squad聽got the crowd warmed up for the Spirit Rally to honour 91亚色's athletes with a rousing rendition of 鈥淟et鈥檚 go Lions鈥 and 鈥淒eep in the heart of the 91亚色 U jungle鈥.
Following the cheers, Jennifer Myers, director of sport & recreation,聽invited 91亚色 athletes from the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) and Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) all-star teams to the stage. The audience cheered and clapped for each athlete 
honoured as Myers read out聽their accomplishments.
Students sign a 91亚色 birthday card
The festivities continued into the afternoon with a cheering聽 competition for best spirit, prizes, a cake-cutting ceremony聽and a talent show featuring performances by student musicians and dancers.
The day's events and birthday tweets were compiled using Storify and can be viewed .
The student group 91亚色 is U was hard at work during the day聽to make sure the events were a success. They聽sponsored and distributed the聽cake and the 6000 cupcakes handed out to the community. Some 50 student volunteers decorated聽Vari Hall, the Bear Pit and the Student Centre, and organized聽the stage show, the card signing聽and button making tables.
Below is the list of athletes celebrated at Red and White Day:
Basketball
Samantha Ernest -聽OUA all-rookie team
Richard Iheadindu - OUA all-rookie team
David Tyndale - OUA all-star
Hockey
Jesse Messier - OUA all-star
Andrew Perugini - OUA all-rookie team
Kristen Barbara -聽CIS all-rookie team, OUA all-star, OUA all-rookie team
Volleyball
Brandie Wilkerson - CIS all-Canadian, OUA all-star
Marko Dakic - OUA all-rookie team
Melissa Humana-Paredes - CIS all-Canadian, OUA all-star
Karim Khalil - community service award
Nick Tran - coach of the year
Track and Field
Daniel Novia - CIS all-Canadian, OUA all-star, CIS gold medallist, OUA gold medallist
Kristin Obrochta - CIS all-Canadian, OUA all-star, CIS gold medallist, OUA gold medallist
Dontae Richards-Kwok - CIS most outstanding athlete, CIS all-Canadian, OUA all-star, CIS gold & silver medallist, OUA silver & bronze medallist
Cynthia Appiah - CIS all-Canadian, CIS silver medallist, OUA bronze medallist
Tyrone Halstead - CIS all-Canadian, CIS silver medallist, OUA bronze medallist
David Mayer - CIS all-Canadian, CIS silver medallist, OUA bronze medallist
Olu Ogunde - CIS all-Canadian, CIS silver medallist
David McKay - OUA rookie of the year, OUA all-star, OUA gold medallist
Vinh Le - OUA all-star, OUA gold medallist
Elizabeth Petrov - OUA all-star, OUA gold & silver medallist, CIS bronze medallist
Umar Khan - OUA all-star, OUA silver medallist
By Jenny Pitt-Clark, YFile editor