The Image 2021 - Prayer Tower Adventure

The Image 2021

Ascending the Prayer Tower

Written by Stephanie Van Wyk with photography by Frankie Panzanella

Perhaps the most mysterious part of SAGU is the prayer tower that crowns the Administration building. Few go up, and, according to legend, even fewer come down (because of the supposed cow incident).

I spent the entire 4 years of my SAGU career trying to figure out a means of ascending the tower. Every day I walk past and wonder what it would be like to go up.

Thanks to a special dispensation, my photographer and I were able to make the long-wished-for journey and report back what we found.

As you can see, the steps to the tower are both narrow and steep. There's no railing to keep you from falling the whole way down in one go. I ended up crawling part of the way, both because of the steepness of the tower and my fear of falling. The staircase was musty, but not unclean. There are windows that follow the curve of the stair all the way up that cast silver beams through the dusty, hallowed frame of the tower. It's magical. I felt like I was going to get to the top to find Narnia, P.C Nelson preserved in Sleeping Beauty fashion, or the bones of Paul. Possibly all three.

View entering the tower. So exciting!

View exiting the tower

Okay, so no P. C Nelson or bones of Paul, but I definitely found Narnia. There's no other way to describe the emotional climax I found myself experiencing upon entrance into the tower. It's one of the most beautiful places I've been. Twelve stained-glass windows panel the four walls of the tower. The light that filtered in perfectly illuminated the patterns and colors in the glass, bathing the room in shades of orange, yellow, green, and red. There were no signs of a cow being slaughtered (as foretold in ancient SAGU lore), but who knows what lies under the carpet?

Gorgeous!

An empty closet occupies each of the four corners of the tower.

Here we have a Speedy Gonzales sticker on the light switch that reads, "Speed of Light." I think it's the best thing I've ever seen.

The window sills were decorated with carvings of people's names over the years. This one was our favorite. Of course the "Cool S" is immortalized in the prayer tower.

We had access to the tower for about 15 minutes before we had to leave. My photographer and I took a minute to pray as students generations before us had done, and then we made the slow climb down (going down is even more frightening than going up).

Frankie (my friend and photographer) and I were quite giddy upon coming down. We were completely stunned by the beauty and tranquility of where we had just been. Perhaps someday this amazing piece of SAGU history will be open to the public again, but until that day comes, I will be thankful for the little time I had aloft.

Thank you to President Bridges, Dr. Amy George, and SAGU Security for making this article possible. Also, a special thanks to Frankie Panzanella for taking such splendid pictures.

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