While the school is on fall break, homecoming festivities will get underway this Tuesday. Also, voting will open for Homecoming Royalty on CORE at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday.
Both Paint the Town and Campus Window Wars will kick off at noon. In town, fraternities and sororities will paint the windows of businesses on Main Street while student organizations and residence hall floors, wings or groups will be welcomed to participate in Campus Window Wars, coloring windows of buildings such as Boozel, the ARC and Weisenfluh.
Later in the day, students can paint spirit boards that will line the sidewalks of the Quad, with the winning design earning a pizza party.
The winners of all three of these events will be announced at the pep rally at Old Thompson Field on Friday evening. The court will also be announced at this event.
The Homecoming Steering Committee will let organizations, residence halls and individuals compete against each other for prizes at the Singing Bee Wednesday evening, which will be held in the Smith Student Center. The playlist will fit the circus theme and differ in genres for three rounds, which will get increasingly tougher.
On Thursday during common hour, the Homecoming Steering Committee will hold Loco for HOCO, featuring novelties, giveaways and live entertainment. Operation GLOW!, put together by the University Program Board and Homecoming Steering Committee, begins at 8 p.m. and students will run, walk and dance their way through a two mile path for giveaways that include glow sticks and body paint, with a concert afterwards.
After the pep rally, there will be fireworks and bonfire with root beer kegs and snacks.
Students attending the pep rally will have to wake up early to get downtown for the parade, featuring balloon animals, stilt walkers and mascots. Rock the Block, a tailgate before the football game against archrival Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) will be held in the stadium parking lot. A DJ, airbrush t-shirt artists, food trucks and vendors will be in attendance.
To cap the evening, the Black Action Society will present the first ever Homecoming Fashion Show.
Junior Adriana Sykes, a member of the Homecoming Steering Committee, hopes that students will get a sense of community from the festivities.
The committee has reached out to residence halls to help increase involvement for students.
“Being able to meet new people, especially for freshmen, [is important],” said Sykes, the royal court coordinator. “They’re coming in and they don’t really know anyone because it’s the beginning of the year. It’s hard for a lot of freshmen to get involved because they don’t know the events that are going on.”
