BY MICHELLE KIM – STAFF WRITER
College — you spend four years living, studying, crying, and partying with the same group of people. It is only standard for the most impeccable of friendships to evolve during these years, especially when attending a school the size of Centre.
Homecoming festivities began on Thursday night, with a Black Alumni Reception and Dinner at Beaumont Inn in Harrodsburg. On Friday, tours were given to alumni to show off the changes and improvements made around the campus.
The Greek organizations on campus are huge participants in homecoming festivities. The Phi Delta Theta chapter held their annual homecoming date party at Terrapin Hill Farm, where they invited many alumni to eat barbecue, dress up in Halloween costumes, and rekindle old friendships.
The Kappa Kappa Gamma and Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapters threw their first annual Casino Night, with casino games, professional dealers, food, and drinks.
“Casino night was an open house reception for any alums that were in town. It helps women within pledge classes reconnect, as well as link together women that may not have ever gone to Centre together,” Kappa Kappa Delta alum Becky Agard ’15 said, “There was music and a bunch of mingling — by far my favorite event of the weekend.”
Early Saturday morning of Homecoming Weekend, many alumni, students, and faculty participated in the annual Flame Run 5K. The event ended with enough time for participants to tailgate for the big Homecoming Football game against Sewanee.
“Homecoming was weird at first, but it ended up feeling like any old weekend back at Centre with my friends,” recent graduate Natalie Tate ’15 said, “Since I moved to to D.C. for my job shortly after graduation, coming back to my old Kentucky home made me feel very homesick.”
The Homecoming football game tends to have one of the biggest audience turn-outs of the season.
“As a member of the Centre Dance Team for all four years, it was a fun experience to actually be in the audience of a football game for once instead of dancing on the sidelines,” Tate said, “The game was great, but I didn’t watch a minute of it because I was too busy catching up with everyone.”
One of the main reasons for such a large turnout is that the Homecoming Court is announced during half-time. This year’s Homecoming King and Queen were seniors Valentine Banor and Lola Fakunle.
“To me holding this title confirms in me something that few people seem to remember – [that] being kind always works,” said Banor, “Even if it’s as small as a ‘Hi’ or going out of your way to do something, people appreciate it. Like many Centre students, I stay fairly busy but I always try my best to check in and smile at everyone I meet.”
With such an outstanding number of fans in the crowd, it is no wonder the football team lead a great victory against Sewanee, with a final score of 49-10.
After graduation, there are countless directions in which Centre students may pursue the next steps in the lives, especially since a good chunk of Centre students are either from out-of-state or even out-of-country. Homecoming is one of the ways the Colonel family can experience comfort and community, no matter which direction they may have taken. It is events like these that leave our school with such high titles of recognition, such as having the “happiest alumni” across the nation.