Southern Utah University (SUU) is a public university in Cedar City, Utah. Founded in 1897 as a normal school, Southern Utah University now graduates over 1,800 students each year with baccalaureate and graduate degrees from its six colleges. SUU offers more than 140 undergraduate degrees and 19 graduate programs. More than 10,000 students attend SUU. SUU's 17 athletic teams compete in Division I of the NCAA and are collectively known as the Thunderbirds. SUU joined the Western Athletic Conference in July 2022. History Branch Normal School In the spring of 1897, Cedar City was notified it had been chosen as the site for the Branch Normal School, the first teaching training school in southern Utah. For the next three months, citizens labored to complete Ward Hall on Main Street for the first school year. In September, the school opened its doors. School had been in session for two months when officials informed the school administrators that Ward Hall did not comply with state law and that a new building needed to be built on land deeded solely to the state by the next September or the school would be lost. Cedar City residents came together and on January 5, 1898, a group of residents trudged into the Cedar Mountains through shoulder deep snow. It took them four days to reach the sawmills, located near present-day Brian Head Ski Resort. Upon arrival, they realized the wagons they had brought with them could not carry logs through the heavy snow. Sleighs were needed. The way back was just as hard as the trip up. The snow continued to fall, destroying the trail they originally took. It was in this phase of their march that an old sorrel horse proved valuable. Placed at the front of the party, the horse would walk into the drifts, pushing against the snow until it gave way. Then he would pause for a rest and then get up and start over again. “Old Sorrel” was credited with being the savior of the expedition. From January through July they continued their labors and when September 1898 arrived, Old Main was almost completed. It had a large chapel for religious assemblies, a library and reading room, a natural history museum, biological and physical laboratories, classrooms, and offices. Milton Bennion was first principal for the Branch Normal School. Bennion brought a code of integrity to the students of BNS. He