The shift into fall weather marks the start of Augustana’s Homecoming Week, where preparations by the members and students of the the Office of Student Life will be in full swing for the entire campus to enjoy.
Gabrielle Gambino Lyon, a Junior year co-chair of the Homecoming committee, is in in first year of being involved with Homecoming preparations.
“We start off choosing a committee, who’s going to run the events” Lyon said, “Sing, Regatta, Talent Show, Rope Pull,Yell, they all get their own set of committee members”.
From there, the co-chairs of the Homecoming committee oversee the specialized committee’s fulfillment of their responsibilities, as well as being in charge of t-shirt order and design. Set-up includes the coordination of materials and supplies getting where they need to be, when they need to be there for the committees to do their jobs.
“Anything that needs a face, or just a helping hand, we’re there” Lyon said.
The preparations this year will also include getting ready for a brand new event.
“We were approached by Collegia Classica, they came to us with the idea of having an actual Olympic Games, as it would be historically represented. It’s going to be completely new, completely different, more open to smaller organizations that may not have as many members. Everybody’s kind of on the same field, and that should be fun. I’m looking forward to seeing it” Lyon said.
Jacob Hallendorf, a Senior co-chair and in his second year as part of the Homecoming Committee said that “with the experience gained from last year and the knowledge, preparations have gone quite a bit smoother, knowing and understanding deadlines”. Hallendorf went into specifics on the management of the specialized committees, describing how the co-chairs met with them individually to go over what needs to be done, what is done, and what deadlines are in place.
This year, Homecoming week comes very shortly after contentious events on campus, a time about school spirit and unity, close on the heels of chalking incidents that drew some divides among students on campus.
“I definitely hope that [Homecoming] is a refresher. I think that Homecoming is a tradition, everybody views it that way. And no matter what the circumstances may be right now, Homecoming is a time that everybody loves and everybody enjoys and everybody wants to be a part of,” Lyon said.
Both are excited for Homecoming as a whole, with the Yell, Sing, and Talent Show being noted as particularly exciting events this year. They, and the rest of the Homecoming committee will see all of their hard work come to life.