Homecoming hype backed by diverse committee

Every year, Homecoming gives everyone on campus the opportunity to double the amount of hype for the school through various activities and events throughout the week. But such exciting events don’t come out of thin air.

A motley team of 25 students works diligently to personally assure that all of us have the best Homecoming ever.

“Our goal is to always have it better than the previous year,” said Becka Neary, the coordinator for student organizations at the department of Student Life and one of the advisors for the Homecoming 2009 committee.

Neary feels generally positive about all of the people that are involved in this annual project.

“We always start in the spring of the previous year by handing out applications,” she said. Most due dates are done around that time.

Resumes and interviews are also done to guarantee that only those with the right qualities are hired. This year 20 women and five men are in the committee and have different backgrounds. Half of them have Greek affiliations, others are involved in other organizations and some aren’t involved in anything else.

Anyone from freshmen to seniors can be found in the organization. Regardless of their background, all of these students have that Gamecock spirit and dedication.

“It’s pretty much for the spirit of the school,” Chloe Gallaher, a third-year marketing-management student, said. “The hype for game day could be so much bigger on campus so that’s what we try to do.”

Gallaher assisted in created the Homecoming bulletin board located on the second floor of the Russell House.

The men may be vastly outnumbered, but that does not phase them.

“We try to look for more males and non-Greeks in order to diversify it, but the girls are more energetic about it so it’s all good,” Eric Cash, a third-year student double-majoring in finance and accounting, said.

Cash is the committee’s director of finance. Aside from supervising all the money that goes through the committee, he oversees at least six of the week’s events.

“Doing something that encompasses the entire student body is accomplishing, even if it’s just for one week.“

The commissioner of the organization, Connie Floyd, has the utmost confidence in her team.

“The people we have are awesome. Many of us have stayed late for meetings when necessary,” the fourth-year exercise science student said. “They really stepped up to the plate.”

Homecoming is expected to have floats and a parade for 2009, unlike the previous year.

“We originally thought that it wasn’t necessary to have all of that, but now we realized that having the floats and the parade will bring out more from the community,” Floyd said.

She said Homecoming will be more community-based this year and much more organized than before because a third of the committee did the same work last year. The hardworking students have experience and good work ethic skills, and it is expected to show this week.

“Homecoming is going to run smoothly all by itself this year,” Floyd said.
Some of this year’s activities include Canned Creations, Spurs & Struts and Cockfest. Check the Homecoming Web site at www.homecoming.sc.edu for more information.

 

HOMECOMING EVENTS

TODAY
— Kick Off Event, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Greene Street
— Showcase 7 p.m.
Carolina Coliseum

TUESDAY
— Canned Creations Co-Sponsored with Carolina Service Council 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Greene Street
— Float Building 7 to 10 p.m.
Greene Street Intramural Field

WEDNESDAY
— Spurs & Struts 6 p.m.
Greene Street
— Float Building 8 to 10 p.m.
Greene Street Intramural Field

THURSDAY
— Cockfest 6 p.m.
Williams-Brice Stadium
— Float Building 8 to 10 p.m.
Greene Street Intramural Field

FRIDAY
— Parade 2 p.m.
Greene Street
— Step Show 8 p.m.
Carolina Coliseum

SATURDAY
— Carolina vs. Vanderbilt football game 7 p.m.
Williams-Brice Stadium