Homecoming used to mean two things: cheering in the freezing cold at the football game and sweating uncontrollably in the field house at the dance.
Unfortunately, with no proper facilities available this year, students don’t get the big dance they’re used to. The football team will still play Saturday though, and groups around campus have lined up a slew of events to keep the school spirit up, including both traditional and first-time festivities.
Friday: “Free Willy” showing, 9 p.m. in O’Shaughnessy Hall pool
In what must be one of the most unique events it has ever planned, STAR gives students the opportunity to watch a classic ’90s movie and wade in the water. On Friday at 9 p.m., the group is hosting a showing of “Free Willy” at the pool in O’Shaughnessy Hall.
That’s right; you can watch a movie about a killer whale while floating in the shallow end. And you thought having a cell phone go off in a theater was annoying.
The 1993 movie tells a tale about a boy who befriends an orca in a marina while doing community service and fights to protect it from its less-loving owners. All students are invited to this “swim-in” movie. Thankfully, inflatable pool toys will be provided.
Saturday: Taste of Saints, 11 a.m. in Lower Quad
Before the Saturday football game against Concordia-Moorhead, food stands, games and a beer garden will take over the Lower Quad, providing fun for all ages. The entire St. Thomas community and neighborhood is welcome to enjoy this annual festival.
Members from various clubs and organizations will be selling food and beverages, with proceeds going toward the groups’ activities. Other booths will offer activities such as face painting and inflatable castles for children to bounce in.
Taste of Saints, which started in the early ’90s, is sponsored by the Alumni Association and the Student Alumni Council. Last year, St. Thomas’ food service department catered the entire event for the first time. This year, the festivities will start around 11 a.m. and go until 1 p.m.
Saturday: Eric Hutchinson, 9:30 p.m. in OEC Auditorium
When STAR said that there wouldn’t be a big-size dance this homecoming, it tried to soften the blow by announcing two medium-size concerts—Michelle Branch and Eric Hutchinson.
Well, Branch came and went, and the only people still talking about it are two quirky seminarians. Hopefully Hutchinson can do a better job capturing students’ attention.
Thanks to a nod from celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, Hutchinson’s debut album “Sounds Like This” created a buzz in 2007. Since then, singles like “OK, It’s Alright with Me” and “Rock and Roll” have further showcased the singer-songwriter’s soulful music.
Hutchinson brings his performance to OEC auditorium Saturday at 9:30 p.m. Six hundred wristbands went on sale to undergraduates at the Box Office & Expeditions on Monday.
Grant Goerke can be reached at gdgoerke@stthomas.edu
As a St. Thomas senior, I feel like I’m getting ripped off. I came into this year looking forward to all the “lasts” that would mark my fourth and final year at a University I’ve loved. As this year progresses, I’m realizing that I’m being robbed of many of the big events that students on our campus really look forward to. I realize that the construction on our campus presents challenges to still pulling off these events, but we’ve known this construction was coming for along time leaving ample for student groups to prepare for it. So I’m sorry if 2 mediocre concerts (one of which half the students on campus didn’t seem to even know about- Branch) and standing in lukewarm water to watch a movie from my childhood doesn’t make me jump up and down in excitement. The Homecoming dance is a great way of bringing a lot of students on campus together to get dressed up, and have fun and I don’t think Homecoming holds the same appeal or excitement without it. I know that these dances used to take place off campus a handful of years ago; why not now? I think the ball was really dropped on this Homecoming. It’s especially sad because it’s mine and a lot of others’ last one. I only hope that this can be turned around for a great Spring Fling come next semester.