Ouachita’s Homecoming week provides a chance for students to connect with each other and for former students to come back to campus to see what Ouachita is becoming.
Students bond through events all week; “lunch on the lawn” on Monday, Homecoming Chapel on Tuesday and the freshman floor spirit banner competition. New this year is the Tiger Tunes party Wednesday night after the Tunes dress rehearsal in the Commons.
“It’s a way for all the students to relax after the Tunes dress rehearsal,” said Sarah Johnson, special events chair for Student Senate and member of the Homecoming Steering Committee.
Johnson is also in charge of organizing the Homecoming chapel, decorating the campus on Saturday morning and Saturday night’s pre-game crowning of the new queen.
“There’s a lot that goes into it that you don’t think of,” Johnson said. “Photos [of the candidates], flowers…it’s a lot of details that you don’t really think about.”
The Campus Activities Board (CAB) handles all the voting and ballot counting for Homecoming Chapel and does background work to help Johnson “make sure it all runs smoothly,” said Tim Harrell, CAB director. “It’s a lot of fun, [but] it’s mostly behind the scenes stuff.”
CAB also helps with the pre-game show on Saturday.
“It all has to happen before the kickoff,” Harrell said. “It’s a busy day—there’s a lot going on.”
For Ouachita alumni, Homecoming is a “chance to come back to campus and see what is here, what is going on and to connect with the current community,” said Lauren Lands, internal alumni director.
Homecoming has always been a project of the Alumni office, but two years ago they created a homecoming steering committee to increase current student participation.
“We’re so grateful for the student planning committee,” Land said.
One of the main goals of the Alumni office is to show “what’s going on today, and to let [alumni] be together with people that they knew,” Land said.
The planning process takes about a year as the Alumni office also handles the class reunions that typically take place during Homecoming week.
This year, the classes of 1983, ’84 and ’85 are having a reunion dinner on Friday night in Walker Conference Center. They have chosen “Back to Walt” as the theme to honor a former Ouachita chef and will be having a traditional Ouachita steak and shrimp dinner.
“The alumni are very involved with the planning game,” Land said. “[We] find out what they want to do for their reunions and how they want to do it.”
Land also stressed the importance of GROW (Getting Ready for Ouachita’s World), which takes place Thursday through Friday on campus and over 250 prospective Ouachita students will be staying with current students and experiencing life at Ouachita.
“Our students are so friendly,” Land said.
“We normally expect 250 students to come to the GROW experience,” said junior Kristen Glover, student recruitment and student ambassadors co-chair. “That will allow them to visit Tiger Tunes, go to Refuge, attend classes on Friday and kind of understand what the Ouachita experience is all about,” she said.
Land stressed the importance of “[going] out of your way to speak to them [the Growers] and make them feel at home.”
While Homecoming week provides a chance for prospective students, current students and former students to connect and reconnect with each other, it is also a very long week for those involved in planning and Tiger Tunes.
“We’re all excited for Homecoming, it’s a big thing,” Harrell said. “But once it’s over, there’s this campus-wide sigh of relief.”
