In early 2020, several 萝莉社视-COM employees discussed how to increase awareness of Utah Valley鈥檚 first osteopathic medical school. One employee remembered a famous travel ad that always featured gnomes. Half-jokingly, he suggested that 萝莉社视-COM add gnomes to its campus tours to stand out.
That evening, Dr. Michael Rhodes, Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs, returned home and walked out to his garden, where a doctor gnome had sat for years. He presented it to Director of Student Affairs, Jamie Dougherty, and gave her full creative license. Jamie scrubbed the gnome, painted it in school colors, and named it 鈥淣orm L. G-Nome.鈥
Norm started showing up in early social media posts, and gnome cutouts were included in a video of a campus tour. Suddenly, all of campus caught the gnome fever: employee desks, orientation activities, and annual events featured paintable gnomes, gnome cookies, and gnome puns.