On March 5, students received an email from Elsie Angus with a link to a 1:33 video message recorded by a name that can be seen in the opening credits of the television show “Breaking Bad.” Vince Gilligan, creator of the popular show, recorded a video to give his congratulations to Longwood University for reaching its 175th anniversary this year.
Although Gilligan, a graduate of New York University, did not attend Longwood, he was very familiar with the campus while growing up. He was able to call Farmville his home from the time he was three years old until he was 14. During his elementary school years, Gilligan was at Longwood College every day to attend the J.P. Wynne campus school where his mother was also a teacher.
Gilligan was so fond of the area and school that he worked the name “J.P. Wynne” into his television series.
“Longwood meant a lot to me,” he shared. “In fact, if you watch ‘Breaking Bad’ very closely, you will notice that Walter White, the protagonist, teaches high school at J.P. Wynne, which was obviously a shout out to the campus school. Con- gratulations on being such a world-class and wonderful educational institution.”
“Breaking Bad” premiered on AMC in 2008 and the final episode aired on Sept. 29, 2014, ending the show after five successful seasons. The show has been nominated for a total of 240 awards and won 94 of them. These included Primetime Emmy awards, Saturn awards, Satellite awards and Golden Globe awards. Various actors and actresses from the show also received individual nominations and recognitions for their work.
Gilligan’s video message can be found on the website, 175.longwood.edu which was created to acknowledge the school’s anniversary. Along with his message, visitors to the site can explore the many transitions Longwood University has made in the past 175 years, including name changes and fires. There is a photographic timeline, a “What’s your LU IQ?” quiz and a “Then and Now” page that has a collection of photographs sub- mitted by alumni from many years ago compared to now. This section features Professor
of Anthropology Dr. James Jordan as well as an alumnus from 1967.
Longwood has hosted vari- ous other events throughout the year in honor of the anniversary leading up to the week of March 21-28. A full list of the events during the upcoming birthday celebration week is available on 175.longwood.edu.
In closing to his video, Gilligan had a special message specifi- cally for students and faculty. “And I want to say to all the stu- dents, past, present and future, and all the wonderful profes- sors teaching those students, congratulations,” he said. “175 years is an astounding accom- plishment; may you have many more to come. Best wishes.”
