2017’s Homecoming theme was “Stay Gold.” A nod to the famous novel, “The Outsiders”, written by TU undergrad and Tulsa native, S.E. Hinton, 50 years ago. The TU Alumni Association chooses the theme each year.
Student Association took charge of every event during homecoming week up until the bonfire. From Sunday’s kickoff to Friday’s alumni breakfast, SA made sure the events ran smoothly.
The person in charge of making sure SA made them go smoothly? Claire Chapman. The sophomore served as associate director of Homecoming last year. This year, she stepped up to the department’s main role: executive director.
She said a group of four associate directors and herself met once a week for months preparing for the event. “As it got closer, we met twice a week, if not more,” she added.
Homecoming takes a lot of work and preparation. As Chapman put it “we want to make it as inclusive and worthwhile an event as possible for all students.”
17 organizations took part in the street painting competition and the yard board competition. The boards stood on display in front of McFarlin.
The paint is on eighth street, between the Reynolds stadium and Mabee Gym. It will stay on the concrete until weather and vehicular traffic erode it.
Other events went well too. “I’m really happy about the turnout for the scavenger hunt,” Chapman acknowledged. “22 teams was more than anticipated. Which is fantastic.”
Every event had over 500 students in attendance according to data from ID swipes. Normal amounts for years past have been capped around 450 students per event.
The combined team of Tri-Delta, Alpha Kappa Alpha and Phi Mu Alpha won the week’s overall competition, beating teams made of other Greek organizations and residence halls.
When asked if she planned to take the helm once more next year, Chapman chuckled: “I’ll probably decide in March. I’ll be taking the MCAT next year, and need to prioritize that before anything else.”
She also expressed SA’s desire to be as open and inclusive towards student needs as possible.
“Any student is welcome to come to Cabinet meetings. We meet every Tuesday at 5 PM in Chouteau,” she informed. It’s on the second floor of ACAC.
She also said that the current SA president, Andrew Hanson, is very open to new ideas from any student. The organization works to be as inclusive as possible.
According to Chapman, SA is always looking for ideas from those outside the organization. “The more voices and ideas we get, the better we can serve students.”
In that vein, Chapman plans to send out a survey to students in three weeks. “I want students’ honest opinions of how homecoming went, what we did well and what we can do better” she explained.
Based on that information, SA can make changes to make next year’s homecoming an even larger success. Look for the email in your TU email inbox in the coming weeks.
