I had the honor of serving as a homecoming candidate for the Association of Black Students and Asian Council this year. Competitions between organizations included field day, peruna painting, window painting, and many others. However, a huge bonding experience comes with float building, which lasts all week long. Floats this year included everything from huge sombreros to a life size cow. Organizations truly get creative with these floats since they are showcased in a homecoming day parade. It was amazing to stand on our float, pass out leis, and witness the SMU and Highland Park community support SMU students and all of our hard work.

This year’s homecoming was beyond fabulous and I can only hope that you will be able to experience one for yourself in the near future

By Emily Hegi

Homecoming at SMU is one of the most exciting weeks of the year.  As a sophomore, I couldn’t wait to experience it again!  Every year, different organizations on campus participate in a variety of Homecoming events.  These events include (but are certainly not limited to) a field day competition on the Dallas Hall lawn, decorating a wooden cut-out of our mascot, Peruna, and of course, building a float.

Before this year, I had never built a float before, so naturally I assumed it would be easy.  I stand corrected.  To save all of you from making the same misguided assumption, I want to present to you Float Building 1o1:

The first thing you have to do when making a float is plan.  I cannot stress this enough.  You have less a week to build the float, and trust me, you need that entire time for building.

(LEFT: This is me not planning for the float and regretting it)

The second thing you have to do is actually build the structure.  The structure is made out of wood, which inherently means that you have to use power tools to assemble the wood.  My job during this stage was to stay out of the way.

(RIGHT: Notice that I am not in this picture because there are power tools present)

After the structure is assembled, it must then be covered in chicken wire.  I would like to take a moment here to point out that chickens do not get enough credit for living with this treacherous wiring everyday.  I cannot tell you how many times I got caught in the chicken wire or, more embarrassingly, how many times I could not get myself out of it.

(LEFT: Again, not in the picture because I am busy detangling myself somewhere)

When the chicken wire has been tamed and the float appears to be nearing the end, think again, my friends– Because now, it is time to pomp.  Pomp is a word that regularly means ceremony and splendor, yet anyone who has ever pomped can tell you that is not the case.  In regards to homecoming, to “pomp” means to coat the chicken wire in spray adhesive and then proceed to fill each hole with a single piece of tissue paper.  Easy enough, right?

Exactly what I thought too, until my hands become sticker than the chicken wire and before I knew it, I was more pomped than the float.

(RIGHT: Fellow ambassador Carissa Laughlin and I pose with the pomped version of President Turner)

(LEFT: We left quite the paper trail by the time we were finished)

Eventually, by some unknown miracle, the floats are finished.  Although it may have been a long, sleepless, rather hazardous week, marching in the parade behind the float makes it all worth it.

(RIGHT: The finished product!)

Homecoming 2012 was, yet again, a success.

For more photos, check out Student Foundation’s Homecoming for the Holidays Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/SmuHomecomingForTheHolidays

By Ramon Trespalacios

It’s Homecoming week at SMU. This means people donating blood, decorating windows, painting peruna-shaped wood, float building and a lot of school spirit and healthy competition. At the beginning of the week to kick off the race among the king and queen candidates, Student Foundation organized an event called Rock the Vote. This is one of my favorite events during Fall Semester. Every member of the different organizations participating in homecoming goes to the soccer field stands to cheer for their candidate. You can see people representing greek letters, t-shirts that read “I <3 AC” (Asian Council) or  “Association of Black Students.” With so much craziness going on, I wanted to attend with something totally random. I decided to wear a chicken suit. Why? may you ask. Why Not? I’ll respond. Our overall theme for homecoming is Holidays, and my organization chose Texas Independence Day. Therefore I thought. Chicken-Texas-Cowboys-Chicken-Mexico-Independence… and decided to wear a chicken suit.

By Claire Piepenburg

Hey there, Perspective Ponies!

What a wonderful weekend we’ve had on the Hilltop! This weekend was the culmination of a week-long event…Homecoming!

The theme this year was “Homecoming for the Holidays”, presented by Student Foundation. For starters, student organizations painted wooden Perunas that were displayed on the main lawn. One Peruna wore antlers for Christmas, another was decked out in gold and green for St. Patrick’s Day – every holiday you could imagine was there: Valentine’s Day, Cinco de Mayo and of course, Texas Independence Day! Colorful, creative banners for each group were also displayed on the main floor of Hughes Trigg.

Next, the students decorated the store windows of nearby businesses up and down Hillcrest and Mockingbird. They also competed in a Field Day event to try and score even more points for their organization!

We had our annual donation drive for student giving, put on by the Union, called “Gve It Up” where the organization with the greatest percentage of participation wins $1,000. Multiple organizations had 100% participation! Another kind of giving was also going on – buses were parked at the flagpole all week to take blood donations from students!

On Saturday, we celebrated Homecoming with a good, old-fashioned parade. All the student organizations had float entries with their queen and king candidates seated atop.  President Turner, notable alums like Blake Mycoskie, local civic leaders, and the Mustang Band all rode in the parade that ran around campus and eventually back up the Boulevard. Sudents, families and alums all gathered on the Boulevard to enjoy all the excitement and festivities Homecoming had to offer!

The final celebration came when the SMU ‘Stangs stomped conference rival Memphis with a final score of 44-13! It’s always a great time to be a Mustang, but this weekend was especially sweet.

Have a great week and Pony Up!