Oct 09, 2016 07:27 AM EDT By Beth Golden, UniversityHerald Reporter

On October 1, 1891, Stanford University first opened its doors to a handful of students and less than 20 faculty members and a few classrooms. Today, 125 years later, Stanford has grown into one of the best universities in the world educating the brightest students and a leading research institution. A year of celebration to commemorate its great achievements is both fitting and called for.

The university began with simple beginnings with a grand vision: "to be nonsectarian, affordable and to produce cultured and useful graduates." This is the vision Leland and Jane Stanford had when they decided to build an appropriate memorial for their only son that they lost. The couple gave a fortune that included their 8,180 acre stock farm where the campus now stands.

From these good intentions and grand gestures, the Leland Stanford, Jr. University - still it's legal name, was founded. There had been countless challenges but the institution have proven it can endure and succeed.

Today, Stanford has seven schools and 18 interdisciplinary institutes, home to 2,100 faculty, 16,000 students and 1,800 postdoctoral scholars. It has greatly contributed to the development of science, technology, medicine and business and has recently received funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to build a Bay Area Biohub shared with the University of California Berkeley and UC San Francisco.

In line with its 125th year celebration a website was dedicated for the event and a number of events and activities in the campus was organized. It includes a homecoming event in honor of the university's founders, a number of exhibits in kiosks in different locations in the campus to showcase and highlight Stanford's achievements and innovations.

There will also be an exhibit in the Green Library to document student life and evolution on the Farm, a career exploration event and a number of other events which can be found on the website.

This series of events only shows that the Stanford community is more alive and prepared to rise up to challenges and capable of making meaningful contributions to society now and the next years ahead.

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