The song that will be sung by Tommies for generations now has lyrics.
Sara Gross Methner, St. Thomas’ General Counsel and Secretary, was announced as the winner of the lyric writing contest for the St. Thomas fight song on Nov. 17.
Gross Methner had no intentions of entering the contest, let alone winning it, but something kept pulling her towards the pen and paper.
“I heard the contest announced and I was intrigued. It kept popping into my head so I thought, maybe I should try this,” Gross Methner said. “It was a huge surprise to be chosen, I had no expectation of winning.”
The starting point of her writing journey happened while she was traveling to a distant wedding, and found herself in a silent car ride with nothing to do.
“I was driving with my husband… he wasn’t feeling very well, so we didn’t have any music on in the car. I was sitting there and I thought, ‘Well, now’s a good time,’” Gross Methner said.
Although she didn’t have a specific process for writing, she tried to think about it from a musical point of view, and in a poetic meter, rather than in sentence form. Gross Methner’s husband is a musician, which provided her with a bit of a background when it comes to writing lyrics.
“I didn’t have music in my head but I was trying to think about phrases that would work for music… I came up with a bunch of different things,” Gross Methner said. “I read my drafts to (my husband) and just said ‘From your perspective, how does it sound?’ and he gave me some feedback about things.”
The inspiration for the lyrics comes from a quote in a 1889 speech by St. Thomas’ founder Archbishop John Ireland, when he said, “I seek no backward voyage across the sea of time; I will ever press forward.”
Gross Methner felt that this quote embodies the mission and values of the university, and the goal of advancing the common good. One of the reasons she felt drawn to St. Thomas was due to the convictions of the university, and how they resonate with her, which was another huge inspiration in the lyrics.
“The (missions and convictions) really made a strong impression on me and so I started with those,” Gross Methner said. “I was really thinking about how to make this fight song more of a unifying and energizing song for the community and to be able to really reflect those convictions and that idea of always moving forward.”
Gross Methner reiterated that this will be a song not just for athletics, but for every aspect of St. Thomas, which she feels not many university fight songs are capable of. One of Gross Methner’s favorite lyrics is “for dignity, respect and pride,” which she hopes can fuel enthusiasm while also embodying St. Thomas’ core values.
“(Dignity, respect and pride) is really the core. Dignity is the core of Catholic social teaching. Dignity is the core of our community, it’s a great community conviction,” Gross Methner said. “We’re proud of the university, we’re proud of being part of this community, we’re proud of each other, we’re proud of being our authentic selves, as a community.”
Noelle Gahnz can be reached at gahn8228@stthomas.edu