The massive "M" on Cowboy Hill is easier to see thanks to the bodies of about 200 South Dakota School of Mines & Technology students. For them, whitewashing the M is the highlight of the week's homecoming festivities, especially since afternoon classes are canceled for the event.

"It's the best day out of the week, for sure," Ben Koshiol, a mechanical engineering sophomore, said. "At the other M-week activities, everyone disperses right away, but at this, everyone is here and is staying around. It's awesome."

More than 1,000 students, faculty, staff and alumni attended the picnic at the base of Cowboy Hill. Students were dressed in everything from outdated suits to leopard print clothing to camouflage - clothing that they could tear up and get dirty.

"It gives them a chance to really let go and act crazy for a day," said Mike Keegan, coordinator for the student activities and leadership center and the advisor for the M-week committee. "Our students are so academically focused and work so hard all year that this allows them to let go for a few hours, and they love it."

A giant mud pit close to the picnic area offered students the chance to become as "Grubby" as their school's mascot. However, some students came just for the exciting atmosphere without plans to get dirty.

Evan Waddell, a third-year chemical engineering student, said he was not planning to get dirty, but some fellow chemical engineers threw him in the mud pit, despite his protests.

"Someone walked over and tried to give me a 'mud hug' so I tried to run away, but then, a bunch of them caught up with me and threw me in," Waddell said. "My shoes were white this morning, but now, that's all a memory. I was able to get one of them back, but it wasn't satisfying enough."

To whitewash the M, plastic garbage cans full of water were carried up the hill, mixed with the appropriate chemicals and then poured down the M as students slid down on their backs or bellies. The annual plaque with the names and majors of the graduating seniors was placed on the M before the whitewashing.

"The seniors get excited, and then the freshmen get excited because the seniors are excited, and it just builds on itself, and the energy continues to pulsate," Keegan said. "Then the alumni come back because it reminds them of how excited they were when they were freshmen and seniors."

Waddell said that he didn't slide down the M because he has seen in years past the effects of the concrete on skin.

"I think it's fun to watch, but I'm still scared to do it," Waddell said. "I see people come away with cuts and bruises, and I don't want to be that person. I don't know what goes through their heads, although being amongst all of those people laughing and cheering for them probably makes it an adrenaline rush."

Cody Meyer, a freshmen civil engineering student, also did not slide down the M, even though he originally had planned to do it.

"I had no idea what to expect, with all of the rumors you hear," Meyer said. "I'm expecting to go to this hill and slide down some grass or something. And then just today, when I got here, I learned that the M is made out of concrete, and we're going to slide down a concrete slide."

A rope bridge spanned Rapid Creek to transport students across. Most were fortunate enough not to fall in the cold water.

"The president, Dr. Wharton, even went across the rope bridge," Meyer said. "That was really cool to see."

The trek up the hill to maintain the M has been an annual tradition since 1912, when the M was excavated and filled with more than 100 wagon loads of rock that the students and faculty whitewashed. It was built to advertise the school and could be seen from 12 miles away. The stones were replaced with concrete slabs in 1922.