At St. James Place, LSU’s Academic Legacy and Game Day Spirit Are Always on Display
June 23, 2025
Just down the road from LSU’s Baton Rouge campus is a special place that is home to some of the most avid Tiger fans around. Game time is always a good time at the St. James Place retirement community, especially when the Tigers are competing at the highest levels.
Tonya Dixon
“Anytime an LSU game is on TV, we’re watching it — It’s a reason for a party!” said Tonya Dixon, director of active lifestyles at St. James Place.
She said the connection between LSU and St. James Place goes beyond celebrating the Tiger sports teams, though.
LSU students are a common presence on the St. James Place campus, as part of their class work, internships, or volunteering with service organizations, but also to engage with residents and take part in their celebrations and other festive events.
In June, for example, as residents were cheering on the Tiger baseball team, LSU took part in celebrating St. James Place’s selection as a Best Independent Living Community by U.S. News & World Report.
“We are the only community in Louisiana to ever receive this award,” Dixon said. “Mike the Tiger came and took family photos with our residents, team members, and their families. He’s also marched in our Annual Mardi Gras Parade around campus, with the Golden Girls, cheerleaders, and retired LSU band members.”
“At St. James Place, LSU alumni and professors feel like we’re back on campus — swapping stories, cheering for the Tigers, and living that purple and gold pride every day.”
June Tuma, retired LSU professor and St. James Place resident
Tiger Nation at St. James Place
Dixon — an LSU alumnus, daughter of two LSU graduates, and mother of three more — found herself even more immersed in Tiger Nation when she went to work at St. James Place 11 years ago.
“St. James Place has a deep history with LSU,” Dixon said. “Many of our residents are retired professors of LSU, and even heads of departments. Our residents are alumni as well as personal donors to the LSU Foundation and different colleges. They are die-hard LSU fans, so anything we do with LSU is a win.”
The facility’s latest LSU-themed event was related to the baseball team’s championship run at the College World Series, or CWS, in Omaha, Neb. The Tigers rolled through the bracket with a perfect 5-0 record, culminating in a two-game sweep of Coastal Carolina to claim their eighth national championship.
Early in the tournament, Dixon and the staff organized a Jell-O Shot Challenge inspired by the contest held annually by Rocco’s Pizza & Cantina in Omaha. Following Rocco’s example, Dixon created a dry-erase “scoreboard” to track the shots consumed by each building’s residents. It was all for a good cause — St. James Place donated $5 per shot to the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank.
For the championship series, Dixon decided to crank up the volume by requesting authentic CWS pizza from Rocco’s for the St. James Place watch party.
“They said yes and partnered with Omaha Steaks for the delivery. Omaha Steaks said they wanted to be in on the action, so they sent hamburgers and hot dogs because that’s what our Baton Rouge friends were eating in Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, and they wanted our residents to be eating the same thing.”
‘So Spirited!’
It was a popular event for the residents, as are all LSU events at the facility.
“They wear their LSU clothes and hats and come to the events in their element. So spirited!” Dixon said. “Their faces are different when they have their LSU colors on. I think it makes them remember … brings them back to a fantastic time in their lives, when they were teaching and doing what they loved. You can see their pride. The spirit of LSU lives in our community.”
Mardi Gras royalty and St. James Place residents Butch and Margaret Hart with Mike the Tiger
Residents speak fondly of the community’s spirit, saying St. James Place makes it effortlessly easy to stay involved with the university and the Baton Rouge area.
“At St. James Place, LSU alumni and professors feel like we’re back on campus — swapping stories, cheering for the Tigers, and living that purple and gold pride every day,” said June Tuma, an alum who taught psychology at LSU until 1993 when she retired, then went back to LSU for a degree in art. “It’s more than a place to live — it’s a place to reconnect with the best years of our lives, making us feel 19 and 20 years old all over again.”
Roland Dommert, LSU professor emeritus in the School of Veterinary Medicine and a St. James Place resident, agreed.
“Academic and research achievements at LSU do not generate as much visible flash as collegiate sports, but these sports events provide exciting opportunities for all of us to cheer for our university and support it as we also do through contributions to ‘Forever LSU,’” he said.
“As LSU alumni, retired faculty, and dedicated Tiger fans at St. James Place, we hope that our support for this outstanding baseball team shows how much we appreciate and support the continuing dedication to high quality at LSU.”
A Benefit for Students & Residents
Dixon said having LSU students on the St. James Place campus helps foster a two-way learning experience.
“We do everything we can to encourage intergenerational partnerships here. Not only do the residents enjoy it and benefit from the students, but the students love the experience as well,” she said.
“With these partnerships, I often go to their class and do a presentation talking about St. James Place, the issues people face when they age, and memory loss. The students really benefit from these discussions because often, many of them are dealing with dementia or Alzheimer’s diagnoses in their own families.”
Some students are at St. James Place participating in activities as part of their semester assignments.
“I’ve worked with students from the LSU School of Music, Psychology, Mass Communications, School of Social Work, Landscape Architecture, Graphic Design, Public Relations, and Interior Design, and probably others,” Dixon said.
“They often have assignments that pertain to a project on campus or actual work with different departments. The graphic design students designed all of our promotional marketing material when we celebrated our 40th anniversary 3 years ago.”
One of the most popular and well-attended events at St. James Place is when students from the LSU School of Music and Dramatic Arts visit and perform, Dixon said.
“That’s the most special, in my opinion. The residents truly enjoy and look forward to these performances, as many of them are or were musicians themselves, and they have a deep appreciation for the arts. They ask the students questions and make them talk about their instruments.”
St. James Place is also a host of OLLI at LSU Courses, developed for adults 50 and older to introduce new experiences, increase social interactions, or simply foster a love of learning. A few residents even teach the OLLI classes.
“It’s rewarding to work in an environment where the LSU legacy is not only respected but also celebrated daily,” Dixon said, “whether through academic programs, sporting events, or simply the camaraderie that naturally forms among Tigers.”
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