Homecoming events took place this past weekend on Nov. 6. After successful men’s and women’s basketball games, the winners for this season’s Homecoming were announced.
Cole Franklin and Kiva Maxwell were named this year’s Homecoming king and queen. The women of Gamma Rho took first place for their popstar theme titled “Gamma Montana.”
Senior Hannah Ewing is one of the homecoming directors for Gamma and said receiving first place felt extremely rewarding.
“After it was announced, I felt an immense amount of pride to be in Gamma,” Ewing said. “I am so thankful that I was able to help lead our club, along with my amazing co-director, Cassidy Littlewood, to that title.”
Coming in behind Gamma were the women of Lambda Chi Zeta in second place. Senior Kaitlyn Willis,one of Lambda’s Homecoming directors, said receiving second place was a surreal feeling.
“My co-director and I were texting back and forth all night saying ‘Did that really just happen?’” Willis said. “But we knew how much work our girls put into our structure, banner, video, and everything else. We love those girls so much and it’s our last semester with them, so it was a great send off.”
After the Homecoming club placements were announced, here are the final top four club standings.
First place: Gamma Rho
Second place: Lambda Chi Zeta
Third place: Chi Lambda Phi
Fourth place: Iota Kappa Phi
The overall Homecoming theme was “I Dreamed a Dream,” highlighting childhood dreams of what students wanted to be when they grow up. Senior and executive Homecoming director Monique McKeever said she wanted to help students and alumni dream big.
“When I was trying to think of themes I wanted to choose something that was creative,” McKeever said. “The question ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ was such a fun question to answer when you were a kid, and I wanted to inspire people to return to those days.”
Willis said it was easy to enjoy Homecoming with a theme which allowed them to act like a little kid again.
“We chose pro athletes because we knew Lambda would thrive,” Willis said. “Some of our best Lambda memories come from intramurals and spending time together, so that mixed with the energy we brought to last year’s homecoming, we knew it would be a hit.”
The events during Homecoming brought back various alumni back to Oklahoma Chrisitian’s campus. Some of these events included Lighting of the Commons, Red Dirt Night and Alumni Chapel.
Sophomore Carolyn Clark said she experienced most of these events for the first time since she did not live on campus last year.
“Homecoming is so important because it helps us grow closer together,” Clark said. “We get to remember how long this university has lasted, how far it’s come and see what we are making of it now.”
During the 2020 Homecoming events, alumni had to watch from home due to COVID-19 as the traditions at Oklahoma Christian commenced. Having alumni back on campus allowed for the celebration of the class of 1971’s 50-year anniversary.
“It is important that the alumni get to come back and reunite with old friends and celebrate Oklahoma Chrisitian,” McKeever said. “I loved getting to see all the posts on social media that alumni were making and how proud of their clubs they were.”
Along with celebrating the alumni, Homecoming helped raise money for a philanthropy project aimed at improving student life. The money raised will go to building a hammock park for students to use on campus.
Overall, the fundraising efforts raised over $3,000 for this project to be implemented. Clark said actions like the philanthropy efforts make Homecoming all the more worth it.
“It was cool getting to experience it in a club, and I am already thinking about next year,” Clark said.
McKeever said her overall experience as this year’s Homecoming executive director surpassed her expectations.
“In the past I had only experienced Homecoming from my club’s perspective, but this year I got to see how the different clubs worked on Homecoming,” McKeever said. “It gave me a new perspective and so much respect for each club and how much they worked.”
Homecoming holds long-standing traditions at Oklahoma Christian, especially for alumni.
“I think homecoming is such an amazing way to continue to honor traditions and past alumni,” Ewing said. “It allows alumni to stay connected within this community and allows them to see how their clubs
Homecoming events took place this past weekend on Nov. 6. After successful men’s and women’s basketball games, the winners for this season’s Homecoming court and club competitions were announced.
Cole Franklin and Kiva Maxwell were named the 2021 Homecoming king and queen. The women of Gamma Rho took first place for their popstar theme “Gamma Montana.”
Senior Hannah Ewing is one of the homecoming directors for Gamma and said receiving first place felt extremely rewarding.
“After it was announced, I felt an immense amount of pride to be in Gamma,” Ewing said. “I am so thankful that I was able to help lead our club, along with my amazing co-director, Cassidy Littlewood, to that title.”
Coming in behind Gamma were the women of Lambda Chi Zeta in second place. Senior Kaitlyn Willis, one of Lambda’s Homecoming directors, said receiving second place was a surreal feeling.
“My co-director and I were texting back and forth all night saying ‘Did that really just happen?’” Willis said. “But we knew how much work our girls put into our structure, banner, video and everything else. We love those girls so much and it’s our last semester with them, so it was a great send off.”
After the Homecoming club placements were announced, the final top four club standings were announced:
First place: Gamma Rho
Second place: Lambda Chi Zeta
Third place: Chi Lambda Phi
Fourth place: Iota Kappa Phi
The overall Homecoming theme was “I Dreamed a Dream,” highlighting childhood dreams of what students wanted to be when they grow up. Senior and Executive Homecoming Director, Monique McKeever, said she wanted to help students and alumni dream big.
“When I was trying to think of themes I wanted to choose something that was creative,” McKeever said. “The question ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ was such a fun question to answer when you were a kid, and I wanted to inspire people to return to those days.”
Willis said it was easy to enjoy Homecoming with a theme which allowed them to act like a little kid again.
“We chose pro athletes because we knew Lambda would thrive,” Willis said. “Some of our best Lambda memories come from intramurals and spending time together, so that mixed with the energy we brought to last year’s Homecoming, we knew it would be a hit.”
Homecoming brought alumni back to Oklahoma Chrisitian with events such as the Lighting of the Commons, Red Dirt Night and Alumni Chapel.
Sophomore Carolyn Clark said she experienced most of these events for the first time since she did not live on campus last year.
“Homecoming is so important because it helps us grow closer together,” Clark said. “We get to remember how long this university has lasted, how far it’s come and see what we are making of it now.”
During the 2020 Homecoming events, alumni had to watch from home due to COVID-19 as the traditions at Oklahoma Christian commenced. Having alumni back on campus allowed for the celebration of the class of 1971’s 50th anniversary.
“It is important that the alumni get to come back and reunite with old friends and celebrate Oklahoma Chrisitian,” McKeever said. “I loved getting to see all the posts on social media that alumni were making and how proud of their clubs they were.”
Along with celebrating the alumni, Homecoming helped raise money for a philanthropy project aimed at improving student life. The money raised will go to building a hammock park for students to use on campus.
Overall, the fundraising efforts raised over $3,000 for this project. Clark said actions like the philanthropy efforts make Homecoming all the more worth it.
“It was cool getting to experience it in a club, and I am already thinking about next year,” Clark said.
McKeever said her overall experience as this year’s Homecoming executive director surpassed her expectations.
“In the past I had only experienced Homecoming from my club’s perspective, but this year I got to see how the different clubs worked on Homecoming,” McKeever said. “It gave me a new perspective and so much respect for each club and how much they worked.”
Homecoming holds long-standing traditions at Oklahoma Christian, especially for alumni.
“I think homecoming is such an amazing way to continue to honor traditions and past alumni,” Ewing said. “It allows alumni to stay connected within this community and allows them to see how their clubs have changed due to their impacts as well as the impacts of their peers.”
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