OC celebrates the ‘groovy’ 63rd homecoming

Photo by: Henoc Kivuye

 

Oklahoma Christian University will hold it’s “groovy” homecoming events Nov. 5 through Nov. 9.

“Our theme is Grooving in Our Sixties, not Grooving in the Sixties,” Student Government Association’s Executive Homecoming Director senior Cody Summerville said. “It’s ‘our’ sixties because OC turns 63 years old this year, so it’s meant to celebrate that after 60 years, we are still going along.”

Summerville also covered the big events for the week.

“Homecoming is going to work a little different this year,” Summerville said. “We are starting Tuesday instead of Monday.”

On Tuesday, students played a game of basketball against alumni. On Wednesday, a devotional was held in the Forum followed by a British Invasion party in the Barn.

“Thursday will be the Homecoming musical, and after that we’ll have an ice cream sundae bar at Chik-fil-A like we did last year, and Friday night is OC Woodstock,” Summerville said. “The parade is Saturday morning at 11:15 followed by the ladies’ game at 1 p.m. and the men’s game at 3 p.m., with the coronation in between them.”

The British Invasion party featured a large inflatable Twister mat.

The Twister game raised some eyebrows about whether the game would be co-ed. Before the event, senior Grant Tucker, Psi Epsilon’s homecoming director, shared his concern with the event.

“I’m not sure if the Twister games are going to be co-ed,” Tucker said. “It’s going to be interesting. I’m not certain on how [Summerville] is going to pull it off.”

The Woodstock party features some local artists.

“We are going to have three bands playing in the Forum that night starting at 7,” Summerville said. “We’ll have Bold McCoy, and one of the members of that band is Madison McCoy, a student here at OC. Then we are going to have Conzi and the Boyz and Mont Lyons. In between Conzi and the Boyz and Mont Lyons, there will be the pep rally. That will be in the Forum. It will start at 7 and end around 8:30.”

Summerville said that students will not have to worry about dinner.

“U Dining, Chick-fil-A and Jimmy Johns are all providing dinner that night, and food will be served out in the street,” Summerville said. “We will close the U and have everything set up in the street with music in the Forum.”

Senior Andrew Binkley, Alpha Gamma Omega’s homecoming director, said that the club and alumni events on Saturday are set up through the clubs and not through homecoming.

“[On Saturday] all the clubs do what they have always done in the past,” Binkley said. “[The alumni breakfast] is normally a separate part [of homecoming]. It’s mainly each separate club is going to do a separate thing for their own members and alumni.”

Summerville said that this year, the homecoming committee is trying to make homecoming less of a club thing and more of a community thing.

“We realized that only about 30 percent of our students are actually in clubs,” Summerville said. “In years past, homecoming has been a club-oriented week, so we’re trying to get the whole student body to come out, besides the fact that it will be fun.”

On Tuesday and Wednesday night, $50 Visa gift cards were raffled off. Friday, an iPad Mini will be raffled as an  incentive to get people to attend.

Tucker agrees with SGA’s new stance on homecoming.

“[The homecoming committee] is trying to help both clubs and the student body,” Tucker said. “They are trying to make it more accessible. SGA helps a lot in trying to make sure that everyone has information.”

Even though homecoming is trying to be less club-oriented, club competitions will still be in place.

“The club competition involves the window banners that will be in the Student Center,” Summerville said. “This will count toward 20 percent of the competition. The float for the parade will be 40 percent, and participation will be the main thing. The percentage of club members who show up each night will be the percentage of points that the clubs will get for each event. Each event is worth 16 points.”

Binkley commented on the window decorating competition.

“This year’s [club window competition] will be done a little differently,” Binkley said. “[Clubs] will be painting them on canvas instead of the actual window like in the years past. It’s just easier to do it like that. It will look better – more like the Spring Sing banners look.”