While students don gameday buttons, smile at alumni, eat pancakes on the Lawn and cheer on the Hoos each year during Homecomings, a student organization is hard at work behind the scenes coordinating the weeklong activities: the official University of Virginia Homecomings Board.
Though Homecomings may seem like a long-standing University tradition, the official Homecomings Board was only founded in 2012. Created by students and for students, the board serves to build school spirit and connect current students and alumni.
Current Homecomings Co-Chair Renee Siegel, a fourth-year Commerce student, noticed the school lacked an organized Homecomings week during her first year. With a group of other students, she founded today’s formal Homecomings Board. Looking to other schools’ homecoming celebrations for reference, the founders said they hoped to get students and alumni excited about the University through a series of spirit-filled events.
“I felt that need to raise spirits and celebrate all of U.Va’s traditions,” Siegel said. “There’s so much that’s unique about U.Va. We try to bring all different areas of U.Va. together.”
Since its inception, Homecomings has complemented the weekend’s football game with new events and activities.
“Homecomings is the week where we get to celebrate both our present, past, student body and everything U.Va. means,” said Homecomings Co-Chair Logan Dickinson, a third-year Education student. “I hope that students realize how great of a university we go to.”
Board members still plan to increase their presence around Grounds moving forward. This year, the Homecomings Board incorporated a new student-performance concert called “Hoos Under the Lights” — scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday in Scott Stadium — introducing a competitive points system among first-year dorms and the University’s Inter-Sorority Council to encourage attendance.
“I got to see Homecomings from the start to now, and it has grown a lot in the last couple of years,” Siegel said. “[Moving forward], our biggest goal is raising awareness as much as possible and bringing new people out to new events. We hope to include as many people as possible, increase spirit [and] get people excited.”
As part of its mission the Homecomings Board also hopes to connect alumni with current students, planning events such as “Look Hoos Returning,” which will feature prominent alumni guest speakers who will share their experiences with current undergraduate students.
“We have such great alumni working in such cool jobs that not many people know about,” Dickinson said. “I hope alumni have a good time returning back to Grounds, remember why the University is such a special place and get to know the current student body.”
Siegel said Homecomings epitomizes the enthusiastic coming together of a diverse University community, and partnerships with other student organizations and the Virginia Alumni Association aims to capture this diversity.
“To me, [Homecomings] means bringing together all different students,” Siegel said. “Our organization provides a unique chance to bring all students with different interests and involvements together. [We hope to] bring together all different facets in one venue.”
Even before the weekend's events kick off, the group is already looking forward.
“My main goal is always to help unite the student body and promote school spirit across Grounds,” Dickinson said. “I’ve already started Homecomings 2015 and I hope to make it even bigger.”
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