Ohio University’s campus bled green and white when alumni, Athens residents and students came together to celebrate this year’s Homecoming Weekend.
With the theme “OUr Past, OUr Present, OUr Future,” the university kept the weekend’s festivities packed with events such as the Yell Like Hell pep rally and the annual Homecoming parade, all leading up to the football game in which Christian Bucey, a senior studying sports management and business pre-law, was named king and Tyla Young, a senior studying psychology and social work, was named queen.
“This was my first Homecoming I’d been to,” Bucey said. “This was something I’ll treasure for the rest of my life and share with my family. … This is something we will never forget.”
Despite losing the Homecoming game, some upperclassmen said they enjoyed the celebrations, though some thought it was different compared to past years.
“I didn’t think there would be so many people,” said Tiffani Bauer, a junior studying media and social change. “There was more hype around (Homecoming) this year and a lot more than the last couple years.”
Bauer said during her years at OU, this year’s Homecoming decorations were more extravagant and school-spirited.
This year’s decorations and events were funded with about $80,000 from the Alumni Association and the university, according to a previous Post article.
The Alumni Association inducted Bryan Oswald, 1998 OU alumnus, into the Kermit Blosser Ohio Athletics Hall of Fame during its annual awards gala Friday night.
The Homecoming Parade on Saturday morning featured university and student organizations as they marched down city streets before their names were announced in front of Baker University Center and an enthusiastic OU President Roderick McDavis.
This year’s Homecoming was a first for Leslie Corbitt, a freshman studying middle childhood education, who wasn’t surprised by the number of attendees in Athens for the weekend.
“It seems like a big deal here,” Corbitt said. “It shows that this is home for the alumni. When I first came here everyone talked about great, positive feelings about the school.”
hy135010@ohiou.edu
@HannahMYang
