Dominic Baez – Editor in chief Homecoming, despite being an annual event, always seems to be in flux.
Last year, separate events spanned across five days, without a scheduled activity on Wednesday. In 2007, Homecoming was crammed into three days because of Fall Break, causing undue stress for both the Associated Students of Linfield College Cabinet and the students who participated. The year before that, Mr. and Ms. Linfield was held on a Wednesday; a change drive was Friday’s event. There wasn’t even a Ms. Linfield component to Homecoming until 2006. The change drive has been completely scraped.
After combing through two decades of Linews and Review issues, it seems the only constant factors are the dates when Homecoming is held (the second or third week of October) and an overwhelming amount of Greek Life involvement.
This year’s festivities are no different.
Teams involved include: Alpha Phi sorority and Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, Zeta Tau Alpha sorority and Theta Chi Fraternity, Sigma Kappa Phi Sorority & Delta Psi Delta Fraternity and Phi Sigma Sigma sorority and Kappa Sigma Fraternity. Homecoming events spanned five days in October, with an event hold each day. New this year was the Oct.14 relay race. This type of competition is not completely new. For example, in 1998, Homecoming featured a triathlon event similar to this year’s relay race.
The relay race, held in the Oak Grove, was a timed event involving six legs and 10 participants from each team, senior ASLC President Ashlee Carter said. Each team created a baton before the race to be handed off between each leg.
The relay began with one runner racing in a dead sprint, followed by a three-legged race and then a soccer-kicking event in which the Lewis & Clark College mascot was used as the target.
After the target was hit, the next team member competed in a different type of excecise: a Sudoku puzzle. After the puzzle was completed and verified by race officials, the next participant ate five hot dogs — buns and all. This was followed by a team-working puzzle called “7 up, 7 down.” To complete the race, a football was thrown into a recycling bin before a team member dashed across the finish line, Carter said.
Also, for the first time in recent years, ASLC is keeping the scores for each event secret. While participants can most likely accurately guess the standings, only certain ASLC Cabinet members and Director of College Activities Dan Fergueson know the specific scores. The winners will be announced during halftime at the Homecoming football game Oct. 16 by Carter and senior Katrina Peavey, ASLC vice president of programming.
“With scoring being kept a secret this year, it will be a much-anticipated time,” Carter said.
For the most part, however the traditional events remained intact: Oct. 12: Tug-o-War; Oct. 13: College Bowl; Oct. 15: Parade, Song and Banner; and Oct. 16: Mr. and Ms. Linfield.
Tug-o-War was held on the football field at 8 p.m. this year, a later time than usual. The event was conducted in a round-robin fashion, every team competing against every other team. ASLC also required waiver forms from all participants, Carter said, removing the college and ASLC from liability for accidents.
“I personally feel like they were a positive addition —although no one was injured, thank goodness,” she said.
College Bowl, held in Ice Auditorium instead of Riley Hall, was also round robin, though attendance was low.
“The spectators this year [were fewer] than last year, and a suggestion for next year is to change the time of this event to a later time so more people will be able to attend,” Carter said.
The Parade, Song and Banner contest began in front of Campbell Hall and followed the ASLC IM Sports “gator” across campus in a parade culminating at the football field for the song and banner competition. Faculty-member judges scored each event separately.
The final event for Homecoming, the Mr. and Ms. Linfield competition, will feature four women and four men vying for the title in Ice Auditorium on Oct. 16.
Early admittance begins at 7:30 p.m. and requires a $1 donation to the Yamhill County Food Bank. Regular admittance begins at 7:45 p.m. and is free.
“A $1 donation is still encouraged with it going to a good cause,” Carter said.
The main event will begin at 8 p.m. Segments to be judged, again also by faculty members, include introduction, school spirit, Q&A and talent, as well as a surprise portion.
Despite this year’s events coming together without much difficulty, Homecoming always proves to be a stressful time for its organizers.
“The planning for Homecoming has been long and difficult, but so far it’s all been paying off,” Carter said. “As Cabinet, we had plenty of lengthy meetings about details, the new event, changing locations, time changes, new requirements, etc. First, we went in circles about taking away events or simply adding a new event, and, after a long debate, we took it to a vote for each night. All the changes and additions this year have seemed to pay off and have gotten good feedback.”