Through the years, Southwestern has marked a number of firsts and milestones:

• Southwestern held the first-ever Homecoming on Wednesday, April 21, 1909, in Georgetown’s San Gabriel Park. Homecoming is now a tradition observed the world over.
• Three of the first five Rhodes Scholars in Texas graduated from Southwestern.
• The first student literary journal in Texas was founded at Southwestern.
• In 1884, Southwestern defeated The University of Texas in the first college baseball game played in the state. In 1911, the Southwestern baseball team played three competitive games against the Chicago White Sox, who were making a spring tour of Texas.
• During World War II, Southwestern prospered through participation in the Navy’s storied V-12 program, designed to supplement the force of commissioned officers during World War II.
• Thanks to the V-12 program, a contingent of sailors and Marines made Southwestern a football powerhouse in the 1940s. In 1943 Southwestern defeated the University of Texas in Austin and went on to win the Sun Bowl against New Mexico, finishing the season 10-1-1 and ranked 11th in the final national football poll.
• In 1993 Southwestern was named a national liberal arts institution by the Carnegie Foundation.
• In January 2010, Southwestern became the first university in Texas to have all of its electricity supplied by wind power and one of fewer than 20 universities in the country to have a totally green power source.
• In 2020 Southwestern named Laura Skandera Trombley as its 16th President, the first woman to hold that top leadership position.

Read more about Southwestern’s history in “Duty and Doctrine: The Origin Story of Southwestern University.”