Students’ Views

Though I’m a sophomore, I just experienced SU homecoming for the first time. I was surprised to see so many people on campus this weekend. I knew homecoming was a big deal, but I wasn’t expecting classes all the way back to 1948 to be there. It was really cool to see how much school spirit the alumni have!

As a part of Student Foundation, which is the student organization on campus that serves as a liaison between students, faculty, and alumni, and as a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority, I was an integral part of the homecoming festivities. I basically had to block my day off into hour increments just to keep straight everywhere I had to be. (I’m a pretty good example of how over-committed conscientious students at SU can be…) The day began with the homecoming parade. The homecoming theme was “Southwestern’s Greatest Hits” and the parade theme was “One Hit Wonders.” Our float for ADPi was Macarena themed. We all stood in a trailer attached to a truck covered in streamers, wearing tie dye tshirts, and doing the Macarena for about an hour. We had dancing, a dog, a baby, and candy, so I think we were pretty hard to resist. During the picnic on the mall, the parade winners were announced, and—drum roll please—we won! We received a check and the title of Best Overall Float.

After the parade and picnic, I watched a bit of the alumni lacrosse game. It was absolutely beautiful outside, so it was a really great break in the middle of the day. I was wearing my official Student Foundation polo and name tag, and a reporter from the Williamson County Sun actually interviewed me about homecoming. (I think that’s probably the third time I’ve been interviewed by that newspaper…You’ve gotta love small town news!)

I finally had to force myself to leave my perfect little moment and head over to the Cullen building for Classes Without Quizzes. I had been asked to introduce Dr. Selbin, my absolutely phenomenal advisor, at the event honoring the 10^th anniversary of his First Year Seminar “The Secret History of the Twentieth Century.” I’d always wondered what that FYS was about, since I’d heard only cryptic snippets. The event was set up where alumni presented research they had done based on this FYS in years since having taken it. I can’t really describe how cool this experience was and how blown away I was by these people. At the reception afterward, I got to talk to the alumni and got into a rousing discussion on how SU has changed over the years. They were really excited and shocked to hear how much more active SEAK has become. I also took great advantage of the situation to network and now definitely have some cool internship leads!

After that, I ran back to my room and rushed to get changed into classy attire for open chapter meeting for ADPi. (And by rush I really mean freak out and manage to have shower curtain fall on top of me, razor go flying, and lotion bottle break apart…) I managed to emerge from my room looking presentable and kind of maybe gorged myself a bit on the delicious finger foods in the chapter room…and met some really cool ladies from the class of 1958!

Possibly the most anticipated part of homecoming is SING, the night of skits put on by various organizations on campus. I didn’t get to participate in ADPi’s skit since I am in Student Foundation and had to run around like crazy backstage the whole time, but I am SO proud of ADPi! Everyone did a great job on their skits, and though we didn’t win, I think we were a hit. The ADPis dressed up in genuinely terrifying zombie costumes and danced and sang to a variety of songs from Monster Mash to Bright Side of Life. The audience was very enthusiastic, and the whole thing was really fun.

I am absolutely exhausted and a little bit sick after the last week of intense test-age and this weekend of homecoming fun, but it was worth it.