Student Bonfire announced on Wednesday the tentative date for First Cut 2015 as Sept. 12 — the day freshmen, upperclassmen and alumni alike will come together to start gathering wood for Bonfire. 

First Cut is the first of about 10 or 11 instances throughout the first semester of school that Student Bonfire goes out to the woods to gather trees, said Zach Gregory, mechanical engineering senior and Senior Red Pot.

“First Cut in many ways is a big homecoming for a lot of alumni,” Gregory said. “A lot of upperclassmen come out to first cut and that’s all an effort to get the new freshman really involved.”

Gregory said First Cut usually draws a large crowd.

“I know in past years we’ve had as many as 800 to 1,000 people at first cut, so first cut is a really, really big deal in terms of getting everyone back out there and getting everyone motivated to ‘build the hell’ again,” Gregory said. 

Karina Melendez, international studies sophomore and Student Bonfire Green Pot, said First Cut is a time for underclassmen to learn what it takes to be a part of Bonfire.

“We just go out with our crew chiefs, the people in charge of us, and they basically show us how to saw down a tree,” Melendez said. “They’ll have us clear out trees and brush most of the time.”

Gregory said First Cut is usually one of the biggest ‘cuts,’ along with Dorm Log and Father-Son cut.

“First Cut is just basically the first instance in which we go out there and the new chiefs are in charge of their crews and the new leaders are in place and it’s just everyone’s first time in their new positions and stuff like that so it’s a lot of fun,” Gregory said. 

In finding the location of First Cut, Gregory said “cut sites” are usually donated.

“We usually seek land donations through local newspapers and stuff like that,” Gregory said. “It’s always someone who wants their land cleared for some specific purpose, or sometimes even selectively cut.”

Elek Nagy, soil and crops sciences senior and Senior Red Pot, said the hard work that goes into First Cut is his favorite thing about it.

“Students are out there every weekend for almost two months, going out, cutting the trees down, and then when we go to build it, students are out there every night for basically all of November until it burns,” Nagy said. “You know, putting logs into the shape of the bonfire, getting the site prepared for the burn night. It truly takes a lot of work.”

Nagy said the organization aims to shape the students that participate.

“We try to instill a hard work ethic in these students, and some leadership skills and, you know, it’s working together as a team to accomplish something greater than yourself, and that’s what I really love about it,” Nagy said. 

Melendez said ‘Red Pots’ and ‘Green Pots’ are two of the different titles in the organization.

“We have the Red Pots who are in charge of everything, to make sure everything runs smoothly, that nobody gets hurt and stuff like that,” Melendez said. “The Green Pots, we’re in charge of paperwork, filing, keeping everyone’s emergency records on hand in case something were to happen. We’re kind of like the secretaries.” 

Gregory said there’s a large amount of anticipation for First Cut.

“I would just like to welcome in the class of 2019 and say that we’re excited to have them out there and that I’m getting antsy for first cut myself,” Gregory said.