SU kicks off homecoming with football game, several contests
A slice of good times will surround Syracuse University students this week as the Division of Student Affairs presents Homecoming 2003.
Organizers planned homecoming week in hopes that every student is filled with orange pride prior to Saturday’s football game against Boston College. The Division of Student Affairs and SU’s Greek system have organized several new activities this year, including a homecoming parade and a pep rally in the Carrier Dome.
Ellen King, director of student events in the office of the associate vice president, oversaw the organization of this week’s events and looks forward to a large student turnout.
‘[The Division of Student Affairs] wants to make this a student-wide activity and a campus-wide celebration,’ King said.
Last year was the first that homecoming hosted university-wide events. Traditionally, the Greek system presented events such as Greek Lip Sync Night and Greek Yell Like Hell, both of which are planned for this homecoming week in Hendricks Chapel Tuesday and Wednesday night.
In addition to these activities, greeks are hosting the Penny Wars, a banner contest.
‘Greeks usually have a banner competition,’ said Mary-Ann Adamcek, a graduate assistant in the office of the associate vice president.
Greek organizations made banners that are displayed throughout the Schine Student Center. Usually, the Greek system finds judges to elect a winner of the competition. This year, however, students are encouraged to vote for their favorite banner by placing a penny in the banner’s voting box. If a student dislikes a banner, he or she should place any silver coin, such as a nickel or quarter, in the organization’s voting box to display distaste for the banner.
All the proceeds of the ‘Penny Wars’ will go to the SU Rape Center, Adamcek said.
Aside from the groups within the Greek system, more groups are becoming involved in organizing new events for homecoming.
This week, Up and Running Productions is sponsoring ‘Smokey Joe’s Caf,’ a musical review of the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. The review takes place at 8 p.m. Monday through Wednesday at Goldstein Auditorium.
Another homecoming event is scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday night. SU’s Black Artist League and Black Entertainment’s Comic View will present ‘You Got Jokes?’ Tickets for the show, which is part of Comic View’s Comedy Tour, are on sale at Schine.
This weekend will consist of various activities to keep students busy. The pep rally will be held in the Carrier Dome for the first time this year on Friday, followed by a fireworks display on the Quad.
The homecoming king and queen will be crowned at the rally. This year’s king nominees are seniors Adam Slater, a political science major, Adam Hardgrove, a broadcast journalism major and Geoffrey Levine, an information studies and technology major.
The homecoming queen nominees include seniors Betsy Sherwood, a political science and speech communication major, Katie Brennan, a magazine journalism, international relations and Spanish major, Ingrid Skoog, a computer science and mathematics major and Staci Gunner, a junior communications and rhetorical studies major.
Students can vote for homecoming king and queen online at http://students.syr.edu/homecoming until Oct. 16.
Homecoming week will close with the main event – the football game, which seems to spark a great deal of interest in many students, including John Sorriento, a freshman music industry major.
Sorriento, a trombone player in SU’s marching band, has watched the Orangemen’s games closely and looks forward to this homecoming game.
‘The excitement … has been building with wins [for the Orangemen] that have been coming in the Dome, and hopefully it will carry over for this game,’ Sorriento said.
