Homecoming & Family Weekend took place on campus from Oct. 24-27, hosted by the DU Programming Board (DUPB) and Alumni Relations. According to Director of Alumni Communications Erica Wood, over 2,000 participants registered for homecoming events, including mostly faculty, staff, alumni and parents.
“It’s been a very successful weekend,” said Wood. “We have more people at homecoming this weekend than anyone ever remembers us having. It’s been the biggest and best homecoming we’ve ever had.”
Wood believes the increase in participants was due to better promotion of the events and a more streamlined registration process. She said Alumni Relations has also started including parents on email lists so there is constant communication and awareness of events on campus.
PioneerFest
This homecoming marked the debut of the PioneerFest, a block party that replaces the homecoming parade. According to Kylee Swiggart, co-chair of DUPB, the homecoming parade was never as well attended as DUPB would have liked. PioneerFest took place on Saturday evening, Oct. 26, on the Driscoll Green.
“We replaced the parade because we thought the idea of a block party or festival would bring people together in a more intimate environment where they’re all together celebrating what it means to them to be a Pioneer,” said Neda Kikhia, co-chair of the DUPB Traditions Committee.
Swiggart said she hopes this was the first PioneerFest of many more to come. Over 700 parents and alumni registered for the event.
“I think it’s going really well,” said Swiggart. “I think DU is really coming around in terms of school spirit.”
This year, DUPB held a Banner Making Competition for student organizations, instead of the float competition they have had for the parade in the past. Banners were hung outside the Ritchie Center for homecoming, and will be hung in Magness Arena for the remainder of the year. The Asian Student Alliance won first place in the competition, the class of 2016 won second and Hillel won third.
The Homecoming Royalty was announced at the PioneerFest before the hockey game, and again during the game. Seniors Tucker Walser and Hannah Parkes were elected Homecoming King and Queen of 2013.
The PioneerFest also included live music, a car show, food trucks, organization tables, arts and crafts, a balloon artist, face painting, carnival games and inflatable games and obstacle courses.
According to Harper Davis, co-chair of the DUPB Concert Committee, two student bands, Scratch and Grease Pony, provided live music for the event.
East Asbury Avenue was closed between Driscoll Green and the Ritchie Center for the car show, food trucks including Barbed Wire Reef and Gigi’s Cupcakes and a truck from Max Fund Animal Adoption Center with puppies up for adoption.
Organization tables included the Daniels College of Business Inclusive Excellence, Food Bank of the Rockies, Student Conduct, Undergraduate Student Government, Graduate Student Government, Unicef, Yes on 66, University Libraries, Reading Partners, Sturm College of Law Children’s Legal Advocacy Group and Liberty Mutual Insurance.
DUPB also had a tent with a DU Bucket List, free promotional items and food truck coupons. About 30 DUPB members volunteered at PioneerFest, according to Swiggart.
“Neda and her committee have done an amazing job,” said Swiggart. “Traditions does Homecoming, Winter Carnival and May Days, so this was their baby.”
Taste of DU
This year was the fifth annual Taste of DU, an all-you-can-eat dinner showcasing local alumni-owned restaurants. The event officially sold out on Thursday, Oct. 24, according to Shannon Cross, events and programs manager for Alumni Relations. Over 500 guests attended the event on Saturday evening, Oct. 26, in the Gates Field House.
Cross said there were 25 vendors providing food for the event this year. Of these, 18 were new vendors and seven were returning vendors.
Last year there were also over 500 guests and over 20 restaurants at Taste of DU.
Parents and Alumni
During homecoming weekend Alumni Relations hosted three Parents Sessions and six Alumni Symposium sessions for visiting parents and alumni. The sessions took place on Friday and Saturday, with several of the sessions including meals.
Parents Sessions included topics such as Roadmap to a Rewarding Career, Studying Abroad & the Cherrington Global Scholars Initiative, and DU History in Pictures, all held in Sturm Hall. Wood said she met a lot of out-of-state parents during check-in, including parents from Minnesota, Illinois and New Jersey.
Alumni Symposium sessions included four faculty-led classes and two keynote addresses, all held in the Sturm College of Law. There were six or more faculty-led classes during each of the four sessions for alumni to choose from. The two keynote speakers were Matt Bond, executive vice president of content distribution for NBCUniversal, and Ellie Sue Schafer, special assistant to the president and director of the White House Visitors Office.
Wood said most people did not realize these sessions were open to everyone and not just alumni. She discussed rebranding the symposium in the future to make it clear that everyone is welcome.
University Mascot
This year marks the first homecoming since USG officially banned Denver Boone last February. However, Boone appeared at the Fan Jam on Thursday night, and a table selling “black market Boone” t-shirts appeared outside the Ritchie Center on Saturday night.
Swiggart did not believe the absence of an official mascot affected the homecoming celebrations.
“Obviously it’s homecoming and everyone would like a mascot, but we don’t have one,” she said. “We’re Pioneers through and through and we don’t need a mascot to know that.”
According to the mascot search website, there was originally going to be a mascot evolution event and an introduction of a new mascot this quarter. However, because the mascot survey last summer did not indicate a successful candidate, the candidates must be refined further.
“While our diverse community isn’t in agreement about a mascot character based on the research, one thing we know people do agree on is their pride in being affiliated with DU,” said External Specialist Theresa Mueller. “We learned a lot from the research that will give our current students some momentum to build spirit around the things that unite us.”
Damien Goddard, DU alumnus and founder of the blog LetsGoDU, has been a vocal advocate for Boone.
“Many alums are very disappointed in the university’s handling of the mascot situation,” he said.
Most recently, USG voted against a resolution that would have granted student organizations and athletics the ability to use student activity fee money to purchase merchandise with the Boone logo.
Pioneer Athletics
This year homecoming weekend hosted five athletics events on campus, including three soccer games and two hockey games. Denver women’s soccer played South Dakota State on Friday and North Dakota State on Sunday. Denver Men’s soccer played Eastern Illinois on Saturday. Denver Pioneers Hockey played the Niagara Purple Eagles on Friday and the Canisius Golden Griffins on Saturday.
According to Wood, the soccer games were added this year in order to celebrate other DU athletics in addition to hockey.
Basketball Fan Jam
This year’s Homecoming & Family Weekend began with the Basketball Fan Jam on Thursday, Oct. 24, in Magness Arena. The pep rally-style event was intended to showcase the talent of DU men’s and women’s basketball teams and also allowed fans to interact with the coaches and players. Students, alumni and fans were invited to attend the showcase free of charge.
Women’s basketball head coach Kerry Cremeans described the Fan Jam as a way to get fans excited for the upcoming season.
“We play some great basketball here, we’re competitive and this is just kicking off the season to hopefully see some championships won this year,” she said.
The men’s and women’s basketball teams competed against one another in several contests as a preview of the upcoming season, including a thirty second three-point challenge, a half-court shot challenge and a slam dunk competition.
“[It] brings great excitement to men’s and women’s basketball. It’s the start of the basketball season, [there is] energy in the gym, it’s a tradition. University of Denver is a basketball school,” said Creamens.
There were also many opportunities for fan interaction, including a contest called “Walk in Kerry’s Heels” in which fans were invited to walk down the crimson carpet in women’s basketball head coach Kerry Creamens’ high heels. A “Joe Scott Look-a-Like” contest also allowed fans to impersonate men’s basketball head coach Joe Scott in front of the crowd.
After the contests concluded, fans were invited onto the court to meet players, receive autographs and shoot baskets. Though there were students in attendance, most of the audience consisted of alumni and families with younger children.
According to Creamens, the fans were what made the event special.
“It’s fun for the fans … you get to talk with the players and hang out with them so it’s a really personable environment and it’s one that we want to continue to make an awesome tradition,” she said.
The evening also featured performances from the Denver Pep Band, DU Cheerleaders and DU Dance Team, as well as free concessions and a cash bar.
The women’s home basketball season begins on Tuesday, Nov. 12, and the men’s home season begins on Sunday, Nov. 17.
Chancellor’s Update
On the morning of Saturday, Oct. 26, Chancellor Robert Coombe gave an address to staff, alumni and parents on the current state of affairs at DU at the Ricketson Law Building.
Coombe was pleased with DU’s current standing, stating that the university is very financially stable and will finish the year with an operating margin well within budget.
In addition, Coombe provided information regarding a new Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) building, saying DU will break ground for its construction by March 2014, and the building will be a 130,000-square-foot site upon completion. Coombe added that the project will cost about 50 million dollars and that “virtually all the funds we need are in hand.”
Coombe said the top floor of the Ricketson Law Building will also receive renovations, where a laboratory will be added for The Knoebel Center for the Study of Aging. The center will focus on examining the physical sciences of aging, including conditions such as Autism, Alzheimer’s and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
Lastly, Coombe praised the current incoming undergraduate class for entering DU with more credit hours from Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB) and dual-enrollment high school courses than last year’s class. The class of 2017 entered with a combined 13,000 credit hours compared to a combined 9,000 from last year, he said. Coombe also stated that this has allowed for gradually decreasing senior class graduation numbers, as 90 percent of undergraduates are able to graduate in four years or less.
In his closing remarks, Coombe said he is satisfied with things going on at DU and expects to have a good financial year.
