AUBURN, Ala. -- A cool breeze whips through the intersection of College Street and Magnolia Avenue at the edge of Auburn's campus. Temperatures slowly climb through the 60s as the sun gently creeps out of a partly cloudy sky directly over two scrawny oak trees and their nearly naked branches.
They’re almost invisible to students inattentively passing between them, and if not for the black straps attached to the center of the 30-plus-foot trees and the small, black fences guarding them, their significance would be lost.
But these adolescent oaks represent a special symbol to most of the Auburn family.