Royalty, games and privies
Homecoming is a lot more than just a football game against the Bluffton University Beavers this year for the Franklin College community. The 2008 festivities will include a privy-building competition for the first time that will go along with the traditional privy burning. Next week’s celebration starts Tuesday with preliminary online voting for Homecoming royalty. Each organization was given the opportunity to nominate one King and Queen candidate. The final candidate elections will be Friday, and the winners will be announced during halftime at the game on Saturday afternoon. The faculty/staff versus students flag football game will begin Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" will premiere in Theatre Margot on Wednesday and will continue through the weekend. Alumni events are scheduled all day from Thursday to Saturday with art shows, volleyball and soccer games, Greek gatherings and other reunion events. Students enjoy seeing alumni as well. "[My favorite part of homecoming is] having all the alumni come back," said junior Trent Whaley. The Homecoming pep session, spirit stick contest, privy-building competition, privy burning and a banner contest will all be held on Friday. Even though most of this is the same year to year, campus events have to change as the student body does. Director of Student Activities Keri Ellington explained that in the past, a sorority would be paired with a fraternity to decorate a house. However, since the Delta Gamma chapter closed, the ratio of sororities to fraternities isn’t equal, and two fraternities wouldn’t be able to be paired with sororities. Ellington said it was decided that the decorating could be "opened up for every organization and now all can participate in decorating a privy building for Homecoming to decorate and celebrate." Faculty and staff will be judging the buildings on originality, craftsmanship, school pride and overall appearance at noon on Oct. 11 on the patio outside the cafeteria. A "spirit stick" will be awarded to the winner. Junior Renee King said, "I love all the school spirit and school activities." These activities are, of course, all revolved around the headliner of the week: the football game. "My favorite part of homecoming is watching our team win and hanging out with friends and alumni at the game," sophomore Aaron Moore said. Saturday’s game day activities start at 11:00 a.m. with a Grizzly Grill Out and live concert with "Five Easy Pieces" in the cafeteria. The game starts at 1:30 p.m. and football coach Mike Leonard said that the Grizzlies will be ready to play "hard and smart." "We’re still learning about ourselves as a team," he said, "but we are well-prepared for every game."
