Homecoming 2022 kicked off Oct. 31 with an exciting week full of activities, ending with a home volleyball game in Freede Wellness Center on Nov. 5. The Homecoming committee put together a week of events and competitions to uphold long-held OCU traditions as well as introduce some new ones.
“We’ve been planning since the summer,” Executive Director Brittany Wyatt said. “I started planning [when] I was given this position, which was last year in the spring semester.”
The committee worked diligently to deliver an unforgettable Homecoming, adding two new events to the calendar.
“One of my main goals as executive director this year was to connect us back to the city in some way, which [was] through the service event,” Wyatt said.
This year, Homecoming committee collaborated with OKConnect, setting up a service event Nov. 3 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
“We [sent] 300 OCU community members, [that being] students, staff, administration, [and] alumni, into the Oklahoma City community to perform two hours of service,” Wyatt said. “We bussed these people to local Oklahoma City nonprofit organizations to do that service.”
Alongside their service event, the committee reintroduced an OCU Homecoming parade Nov. 5, an event that has not been done in decades.
“From my understanding, this is our first parade in a very long time,” Wyatt said. “The spirit squads will perform, and then each organization involved in Homecoming sweepstakes competition will be able to enter a car or walking group.”
With Family and Parents Day falling on Nov. 5, students’ families will also be able to enjoy the parade as well as the rest of the OCU community.
“We invited alumni, local community members, and staff,” Wyatt said, “so I’m really excited about that.”
After a couple years of virtual Homecoming, OCU is now in its second year of in-person Homecoming following the pandemic.
“Last year’s executive committee did a great job of coming out of Covid,” Wyatt said. “From what I was a part of, they had great turnout, so they left us a good foundation to kind of continue coming out of that Covid era, but still remaining safe.”
The lifting of mask mandates has allowed this year’s festivities to take place maskless, becoming the main difference between last year’s Homecoming to this year’s.
“Obviously we’re still concerned with everyone’s safety,” Wyatt said, “but it is not as big of an obstacle as it has been in the previous years.”
Through this expanding ability to start coming closer than six feet, a feeling of connection echoes through this year’s Homecoming theme: “City of Stars”.
“I love the movie La La Land,” Wyatt said, “[and] I really like the idea of City of Stars incorporating stars for OCU.”
Wyatt mentioned that adjacent to the theme’s correlation with OCU’s stars, it also represents the school’s connection back to Oklahoma City.
“I really liked the idea of [giving back to our] city aspect, which is through our service event,” Wyatt said.
Furthermore, Wyatt derived inspiration from the color palette of the film.
“That’s where our branding colors come from,” Wyatt said. “Those different colors which [are] blue, yellow, green, purple and red.”
The Homecoming executive committee continues their work tirelessly to solidify all festivities for the upcoming week.
“Our Director of Service Andrews Barker has been working really hard on Homecoming’s day of service,” Wyatt said.
Students that attend the service day will also be given new merchandise on the day of.
“Our Director of Spirit Maddie Milks has some cool ideas and new merch that we’re really excited to give to students and alumni,” Wyatt said.
Competitors in the lip-sync battle can now produce different kinds of dance numbers, including tap with tap boards.
“Lexi Harper’s our director of lip-sync, which will be in Petree this year,” Wyatt said. “There was, unfortunately, a game and there was nothing we could do [to hold it in Freede].”
Following kickoff, the committee will be showing La La Land on the Quad.
“Our Director of Kickoff Sarah Navran has worked really hard to put that together,” Wyatt said, “[Also] our Director of Communications Ivey Johnston is all on Instagram and the socials, doing all those things.”
The Homecoming committee can be followed on Instagram @ocu_homecoming and Facebook at OCU Homecoming where they post updates and events occurring.
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