Concord Welcomes Back Alumni During Homecoming Week

TKE celebrated homecoming with members both past and present.
Photo Courtesy of Ryan Atwell

Homecoming is always a great time for students, faculty and staff - but it is especially exciting for our alumni. Although students are showing their school spirit and enjoying the festivities while reconnecting with old friends, reaching out to some of the organizations on campus really puts the hard work they do into perspective. Without the planning and preparation from these people, our alumni would not have such a great homecoming to come back to.

    Sarah Turner, Alumni Director/Executive Director of the Concord University Alumni Association says, “This is really the best time of the year for us to have alumni come back. A lot of times, it is the one time of year they are going to come back to campus. We work for months leading up to homecoming.”

    Turner states that a big part of their planning and organizing is media. “We have a magazine we send out to all alums, we put the schedule in there, and they have had that since the summer. ... We have email blasts and social media, so stuff gets added and when stuff is happening we promote it that way. We try to get as many different groups as we can. Like I’m in groups for different fraternities, sororities, there’s one group of 80’s and 90’s alums, so I can try and put out as much information out there for them. That way we can let them know what’s happening and invite them to come back,” she says.     

    This year they had some really exciting things for those who are coming back to celebrate. “We [had] a brunch at the President’s house they [were] invited to Saturday morning. We [did] a big tailgate, having a pig roast and a band. We also [had] t-shirts we [were] selling, some calendars and some other free giveaways. There are a couple of other alums and a couple of other groups that [were] set up there. We even [had] one alum coming and ... doing a book signing on Saturday,” Turner states. 

    Turner believes that is it very important for alumnae to come back to campus. “Most alums that I talk to love their experience here and love this time of year. Specifically coming back while seeing the leaves changing and seeing how beautiful the Campus Beautiful really is. So I think it’s just nice for them to be able to come and reconnect.”

    Turner also says, “A lot of times, this is the one time of year they come back to campus and maybe the only time of year they see friends of theirs. So it’s really neat just to see everybody catching up, reconnecting, and of course making some new friendships as well. So I think it’s just a nice weekend, a nice excuse if you’ll have it, to come back and kind of relive your college days and catch up with friends.” 

    When reaching out to some of the sororities on campus, we see the amount of work it takes from them as well. Christen Justice from Alpha Sigma Alpha agrees that homecoming is extremely important. Her sorority has been doing some of their own planning. Justice says, “To help promote the return of Alpha Sigma Alpha Alumni we try to include them in our activities throughout the entire year. We send out newsletters, we have a Facebook page that we update with pictures, and we invite them to important philanthropic events.”

    She also says, “As homecoming approaches we get our Alumni and Heritage chairman to send out an invitation via email, inviting all of our alumni back in for a brunch before the homecoming football game. After that alumni and active members alike tailgate together and then watch the game. For brunch, we plan breakfast by each member signing up to bring certain items like coffee, cinnamon rolls, and tea. Our alumni actually plan the tailgate themselves.” When reminiscing on some of her favorite memories from previous homecomings, she said that “My favorite memories of homecoming are always tailgating with the alumni before the football game. It is awesome to see the alums having fun together years after they graduated, especially as a senior.” 

    Cameron McNeely from Alpha Sigma Tau agrees that spending time with their alum before the tailgate is one of her favorite memories as well. “My favorite part is when we take family tree pictures with all of the alum! It’s crazy to see how big these trees are and how far they go back. Our chapter turned 86 this year,” McNeely and her sorority has also worked hard to make this homecoming a success for their alum. “Myself, as well as a couple volunteer committee members and an advisor have been preparing by making a menu, piecing together the gifts for them, and our advisor actually made personalized coffee mugs to go with them! We are also going to show our scrapbook from convention while tea is going on. I love connecting with our Alumnae because connections are one of the values that stand out the most for this wonderful group. Having strong connections with our past helps us to grow in our future, both personally and as an organization,” she says. When describing more into depth of what their tea consisted of, she said “Our Alumnae Tea is basically a formal way for us to introduce our newest members to our alumnae. It is also where we honor our alum.”

    Honoring their alum is extremely important. McNeely says, “One thing our chapter does which is pretty different from other groups, is that we all stand in respect for our alumnae when they enter the room for tea. It’s just a great way to show how much we appreciate them and show that our values are being continued through this organization. We are also having a sort of brunch setup this year with fall treats to help show our gratitude that they can take with them afterwards.”

    LydiaBeth Comer from Sigma Sigma Sigma is no different when it comes to planning and preparing for their alums to come back. “We do an annual homecoming tea which also aligns with our chapter installation date at Concord, so we celebrate two things at once. At our annual tea we invite all of our alums to come back, see our lodge, and share in the experiences of being a Tri Sigma at Concord. Last year after our 90th celebration, we held a tailgate with actives and alums and are planning to do that again this year,” she states. “To plan we typically make a homecoming tea committee and they mail all invitations to our alums and the organize food and decorations.  We really love getting to spend time with our alumnae during homecoming.” Reconnecting is one of Comer’s favorite things about homecoming as well. “One of my favorite experiences I’ve had is my freshman year finding out that my high school health teacher was a Sigma! It was so cool to see her again and get to hang out with her as sisters!”

    When reaching out to some of the fraternities on campus, we found out that their excitement is no different. Ryan Lilly from Chi Omega Psi stated that “Our Alumni actually look forward to coming back. We rarely have to ask any of them. Some are driving from several hours away just to tailgate for an hour or so and then go back home because they have to work on Sunday,” Lilly says. He states that “…The Alumni coming in is the memory itself because we all love getting to see the people we looked up to again.” 

    Juwan Waddy from Phi Delta Pi states “Our guys come back because we really enjoy our brotherhood. We all make it a point to come back so we can all help set up for the tailgate and watch other homecoming festivities. We really value the experience of our new members meeting alumni because it strengthens our bond and gives some more history. Football, grilling burgers, and being surrounded by your brothers; what more can you ask for?”

    “My favorite memory of alums coming back is last year’s homecoming. When we won it was great to have everyone there to celebrate and talk about how far the fraternity has come,” he states. 

    Jameson Lilly from Sigma Tau Gamma and his brothers also have a plan to keep their alum coming back. “…Every year we have a chapter meeting where the alumni check up to make sure the actives are doing well and a budget is created and approved by the alumni association.” Lilly says, “There is honestly not a lot to prepare and the alumni pretty much come on their own. Our chapter owns a plot of land that has been dubbed “the hill” and that is where alumni and actives spend the majority of their time. Overall, we all just hang out and have fun. It is not a super organized event for us at least on the active side of things.”

    When reminiscing, Lilly said “I have a lot of good memories but my favorite is when I had just gotten in as a brother and on the hill we had a big fire going and we just chanted as loud as we could. It’s my favorite memory because it really made me feel a part of something bigger than myself. It was a sense of family and community that I didn’t even know at the time I wanted. And we have done it ever since that first time sense it still has a sense of nostalgia to it.”

    Last but not least, Ryan Atwell and his fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon, share the excitement like the rest of the organizations. “We have a huge alumni association. So we stay in close contact and send out reminders throughout the year with our graduated members. So they are always happy to come back and visit the chapter, especially at homecoming,” Atwell states.

    He also goes on to say, “It’s a time when we all get together again and just have a good time and get to see members who have graduated over 50 years ago, to members who just graduated last year. It’s a great time for our newest members to meet our alumni. We get together and share memories over food that we prepared. It’s an event that I look forward to each year, personally.” 

    Atwell shares many favorite memories, but his favorite is a tradition of TKE’s alum. “Every year, our alum gets our chapter together. We go get dinner and spend time reminiscing about the old and new memories of our members.”