The 2012 Homecoming Week at the University officially kicked off on Saturday, October 20 with iHelp, an event organized by the Student Alumni Ambassadors. IHelp is an annual day of service with about 400 people involved. For the freshman, Homecoming here is much different than Homecoming in high school.
“In high school, homecoming was almost a mandatory thing,” said Katie Sreenan , freshman in LAS, Even if you didn’t go to the dance, there were all these activities during school and stuff. Here, it’s more like you can make as much or as little of it as you want. I think it’s a lot of fun and most of my friends and I have chosen to take part in a lot of the Homecoming activities, but I also have friends who aren’t really affected by it.”
The University had events planned for the whole week! iHelp marked the beginning of Homecoming week, and Extreme Makeover: Campus Edition took place the following day. The members of registered student organizations decorated campus and surrounding businesses to promote the Homecoming spirit.
“It is so exciting to see all the orange and blue on campus,” Kelsey Smoot, freshman in Business said. “I’m really excited about Homecoming week. It has been cool to already see so many alumnae around campus and visiting their old hangout spots. I decorated my sorority house and it was a lot of fun.”
Countless Greek chapter houses participated in the Extreme Makeover event. The houses were all decorated and represented the University well.
“With Greek life here, I feel like there’s a more family camaraderie with alumni since alumni is such a big part of U of I,” Kelly Ackmann, junior in LAS said, “I grew up coming to U of I Homecomings, since my entire family went here, and I’m a third generation Illini. I’m excited to see my family, we were planning on going to the game but looking at the temperature and how the teams been doing, we might just go to a bar and watch.”
Other events that occured during the week included free lunch on the Quad, the Fighting Illini Men’s Basketball Team Orange & Blue scrimmage and the IUB African American Pageant. At Assembly Hall on Tuesday evening, Seth Meyers of “Saturday Night Live” performed a stand-up comedy show. Wednesday was Illini Sports day, and students were encouraged to wear orange and blue all day.
On Wednesday afternoon, there was a BBQ and Bags tournament at Washington Park. On Thursday, people celebrated and attended GlowFest, an electronic music concert that featured the music of Hardwell, Bingo Players and Savoy, at Assembly Hall. The energetic parade and pep rally took place on Friday. This was from 6-7 p.m., starting at Sixth Street and Taft Drive in Champaign, traveling through Campustown, and turning south on Mathews Avenue in Urbana to end at the Quad. All University of Illinois band alumni were invited to perform in the Homecoming Parade with the Band Alumni Network. The Pep Rally will be on the Quad after the parade. It will featured the Marching Illini, appearances by head football coach Tim Beckman,the Fighting Illini football team, the presentation of the Homecoming Court, Illini Comeback guests and UI Alumni Association’s Lou Liay Spirit Award.
On Saturday, a number of events occured such as the Lincoln Hall Open House, Business Bash, and the Law and Engineering Pregame Brunch, but the event most people on campus are looking forward to is the football game.
“I am most excited for the Homecoming football game because they’re a lot of fun and everyone’s excited,” said Annie Hart, freshman in LAS.
“The Fighting Illini played Indiana,” Kelsey Smoot said. “I’m was looking forward to the homecoming game the most because I love going to the games. Homecoming will always be a very exciting and well-attended game. The Illinois spirit is awesome — we may not always be the best at sports, but we always have dedicated fans and alumnae to support the team and our school.”