JESSICA MERTURI
News Assistant
This year’s Homecoming, hosted by Seaver College and the Alumni Office, will welcome Pepperdine alumni back “home” for a three-day event including the Jim Dine exhibit at the Weisman Museum, sporting events and a “Back to the Classroom” program to reconnect with old professors. Events will take place Feb. 16 though 18, beginning with Waves baseball team taking on Wichita State University Friday at 2 p.m.
Saturday will be filled with various reunions divided by class, club, team or international program in the Homecoming Village in Joselyn Plaza. The international program reunions, which are for London and Lyon, are open to all who attended them— former and current students, according to Tara Lawrence, manager of homecoming and reunions for Seaver. The reunion for International Programs has many students excited to reconnect with the friends they made overseas.
Junior Emmylou Greenwood, who works in the Alumni Office planning international programs reunions, said she will be attending her first homecoming activity as a Pepperdine student by going to the Lyon reunion.
“I was in Lyon last year and am excited to connect with all the other people who were blessed with this experience,” Greenwood wrote in an e-mail.
Like Greenwood, Jason Tamez, also a senior, said this will be his first experience at homecoming “as an official participant.” Tamez said his participation in previous years included walking to the Firestone Field House for free stuff like In-N-Out burger and Pepperdine t-shirts.
“I think all Pepperdine events are very well organized and fun; I just often don’t do enough research or preparation to take full advantage of all the different events that they offer,” he said.
Another one of this year’s attractions is the main stage where ongoing performances will take place at Homecoming Village on Saturday. The stage, which will be located in just above Adamson Plaza in between the two sets of stairs that lead to the fountain, will be making its outdoor debut.
The idea for the stage arose last year, but inclement weather forced all performances to a makeshift stage in the cafeteria, according to Lawrence.
“Basically we’ve been planning this for two years and the weather looks good, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” Lawrence said. If the weather holds up, attendees can expect outdoor performances from groups like dance-in-flight, the pit group, the jazz band and other various student performers.
Additionally, the main stage will feature 1997 graduate Da Shiek Woodard. Woodard said he believes the luncheon will have a jazz feel, and he said he plans to play songs from his current album “Urban Renaissance.”
Saturday will also be filled with a variety of athletic events. The men’s volleyball team will play Brigham Young University at 1 p.m. in Firestone Fieldhouse. Women’s lacrosse versus USC will take place at the same hour on Alumni Park. At 2 p.m., the Waves will play Wichita State University again in baseball. However, the sporting event worth waiting for will be the back-to-back women’s and men’s basketball games versus Pepperdine’s longtime rival, Loyola Marymount University which begins just after the tailgate party.
The tailgate party will begin at 5 p.m. at Alumni Park where all are invited for free In-N-Out Burger, a pep-rally and a chance to meet Willie the Wave. The party will also help pump fans up for the big game versus Loyola Marymount University.
“We want alumni to get excited, students to get excited, and just get everyone together to show LMU that we have school spirit and that we’re better,” Lawrence said.
Other activities throughout Saturday include a nature walk, a lip sync competition and food and games at Homecoming Village. After all of these energizing activities Saturday has to offer, the relaxed Sunday schedule will be a perfect way for attendees to wind down. All are invited to University Church of Christ services and a final game of baseball at 1 p.m.
Lawrence stressed that students, as well as alumni, are encouraged to attend Homecoming.
“Students don’t understand it’s for them too, not only alumni,” Lawrence said. “If [the student] have a good time, they’ll have fun memories and want to relive these college years.” Lawrence said she realizes homecoming might not seem exciting for current students because it doesn’t revolve around football.
Junior and Alphi Phi member Danielle Howhannesian agreed.
“What sucks about homecoming is that there doesn’t seem to be much student participation if you are not in a sorority or fraternity,” Howhannesian wrote in an e-mail. “I mean, we don’t have a football team so what’s the point?”
However, Howhannesian is hopeful that it has gotten better than when she attended her freshman year. Howhannesian wrote that she plans to take part in the lip sync competition, the bake off, and some of the other sorority/fraternity events, as well as the London reunion.
Alumni are also getting ready for what homecoming weekend will bring. Lori Vann, a graduate from the class of 1996, is excited to see old friends. “Because of homecoming, I’ve been able to get back in touch,” Vann said of the friends she plans on seeing. Vann, who is traveling from Dallas, plans to stay the whole weekend and attend not only her class reunion, but the “back to the classroom,” the pep rally and the basketball game, among others.
Elizabeth Unruh, 2005 graduate, has been attending homecoming since her freshman year. This year Unruh said she will be working at alumni reunions and at the Pepperdine Ambassador’s Council reunion.
She said she is most excited about is a new feature being added to the old tradition of going to Duke’s Restaurant in the evenings.
“This year there will be a separate room at Duke’s for all alumni, parents, and friends,” Unruh said. Along with the new Duke’s feature, reconnecting with professors and friends are among Unruh’s favorite aspects of Homecoming, she said.
02-08-2007