CHEERS FOR 100 YEARS – A 700-pound, 40-foot Golden Eagle was erected by students during Homecoming for the 50th anniversary of Tennessee Tech University.
Tennessee Tech University is celebrating the Centennial Homecoming with a week packed with student events. “Happy Birthday TTU!” is the theme for this year’s Homecoming celebration.
Each year, Tennessee Tech’s Homecoming week is full of events, and the Centennial Homecoming is no exception. However, students will see changes in the 2015 Centennial Homecoming activities.
Homecoming week will include a banner competition, field games, a canned food drive, a lip sync competition and the Homecoming parade, which will occur Saturday, Nov. 14 morning before the Homecoming football game.
“Our overall goal is to get more people from campus involved,” said Kristen Creager, Tech Activities Board president.
On Monday, Nov. 9, banners were submitted and will be judged on creativity, appropriate theme and quality of artwork, according to the 2015 Homecoming information packet. Banners were made be each organization competing in Homecoming and will be displayed in the Roaden University Center throughout the week.
On Tuesday, Nov. 10, the field games will be held at the intramural fields beginning at 5:30 p.m. The field games will consist of tug of war competitions as well as obstacle courses. According to the 2015 Homecoming information packet, teams can consist of 10 members with one optional coach. If multiple organizations are participating in Homecoming together, the team is required to have at least one member from each organization on the team.
Field games replaced the skit night event held in prior years. Creager said she believes this is a positive change for the Centennial Homecoming.
“More people can participate in the field games, and they require less preparation,” said Creager.
The canned food drive will begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11. Canned goods must be split into at least four different varieties of food, according to the 2015 Homecoming information packet. Cans must be 25 ounces or less, have a label, must contain food products and cannot be dented, according to the 2015 Homecoming information packet.
No event will be held Thursday, Nov. 12.
The lip sync competition, which is replacing the pep rally event from previous years, will take place in Memorial Gym Friday, Nov. 13, beginning at 6 p.m. The lip sync performances will be judged based on the organization's creativity, costumes and the overall performance. Performances are based on the themes chosen by each organization. Each organization is allowed to have a maximum of 15 people onstage, including singers and backup dancers. According to the 2015 Homecoming information packet, props are permitted during the performance.
The lip sync competition replaced the pep rally event held in previous years, after numerous injuries during the rallies.
“We replaced pep rally with lip sync because of the safety concerns that have occurred over the last few years,” said Creager.
On Saturday, Nov. 14, the Centennial Homecoming parade will begin at approximately 10:30 a.m. on Dixie Avenue. The parade will start in the Hobby Lobby parking lot and will go down Dixie Avenue. At the end of the parade, the floats will be parked at Tucker Stadium until after the game.
“The floats are always awesome, and it is something that the whole community enjoys,” said Mason Johnson, Homecoming chair of Tech Activities Board. “People from all over Cookeville get involved, not only by watching the parade, but also by being in the parade.”
The Golden Eagle football team will take on Austin Peay for the Homecoming game.
In addition to the Homecoming events, voting for Mr. and Miss Tennessee Tech will take place Tuesday, Nov. 10 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Candidates are allowed to campaign before and during the election process. However, candidates will not be allowed to set up booths on the ground floor of the RUC or the library. During the game, the winners of the Homecoming court will be announced, as well as the winning organization of Homecoming.
