Students gathered to celebrate the beginning of Homecoming week at 7 p.m. Monday in the Student Recreation and Wellness Center with an evening of games and fireworks.
Brittney Williams, faculty chairwoman, brought out the top ten Homecoming faculty king and queen candidates. Brad King, journalism department, and Claudia Borlee, graduate school, were crowned as Homecoming faculty king and queen.
Williams also announced awards for the faculty decorating contest. Miller College of Business won best use of decoration. Best use of theme was awarded to the Career Center. The Office of Student Life won best creativity. The Bursar and Loan Administration won for not only best atmosphere, but also the best overall.
The winner of the residence hall decorating contest was Mysch/Hurst. The runner up for the residence hall decorating contest was Studebaker West.
A pep rally began with Alexandra Vaillancourt, opening day chairwoman, and Matt Wells, the night's host, going over what Homecoming Week holds this year. Tom Collins, director of intercollegiate athletics, was handed the microphone to pep up the crowd with a short speech.
Collins gave the students a few suggestions to make Homecoming week the best it can be.
"First, everyone needs to wear red to the game Saturday to show your pride," Collins said. "Second, everyone needs to recruit everyone from their residence halls and organizations to participate and come to the game."
Code Red dancers performed a dance, and the drum line closely followed to complete the pep rally.
Games were provided for participants following the pep rally. The first round of games included dodgeball and rock-paper-scissors. Students played tug-of-war and competed in relay races after.
Winners were announced for each game, and the overall winners received trophies.
The overall winner for rock-paper-scissors was Phi Sigma Kappa from the fraternity category. Delta Gamma Iota from the independent category won the overall award for the relay race competition. The overall dodgeball winners were Sigma Alpha Epsilon. The male winners for tug-of-war were Delta Gamma Iota, and the female winners were Pi Beta Phi.
Senior athletic training major Racquel Cabrera said moving the Opening Day ceremonies was a good choice.
"I came last year, but it was outside at LaFollette Field," Cabrera said. "It was really hard to see. It is a lot easier to see here, and it seems like there are a ton are participating."
Everyone was shuffled over to LaFollette Field to see a firework show shortly after 9 p.m. The show lasted just longer than 10 minutes.
Chanel Richards, Homecoming general chairwoman, said she hopes attendance for Homecoming will reflect attendance for opening day.
"All of the bleachers were filled in the Student Recreation and Wellness Center, and some students were even standing," Richards said. "I think this means good news for the rest of the week."
Rock-paper-scissors category winners
Phi Sigma Kappa - Fraternity - OVERALL
Alpha Omicron Pi - Sorority
Dance Marathon - Independent
Residence - Brayton/Clevenger
Relay Races category winners
Sigma Alpha Epsilon - Team 2 - Greek - OVERALL
Delta Gamma Iota - Independent
Residence - Schmidt Wilson
Dodgeball category winners
Sigma Alpha Epsilon - Team 1 - Greek - OVERALL
Delta Gamma Iota - Independent
Residence - Brayton/Clevenger
Tug-of-war category winners
Delta Gamma Iota - Male
Pi Beta Phi - Female
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