Alumni swarmed around the Hassan Quad during the pre-game barbecue on Saturday before the football game against Coast Guard for RPI’s first homecoming in thirty years. While the barbecue was a success in welcoming alumni, the other homecoming events fell short of creating the proper atmosphere.
White tents, red balloons, and the children and grandchildren of the returning alumni decorated the area by the Sage building before the game at the barbeque. There was plenty of good food and great company.
The traditional picnic menu of hamburgers and hot dogs—with appropriate sides—was offered. Groups of old friends got the chance to sit and eat together, catching up on their lives since leaving RPI. The location provided a decent view of the Engineers’ warm-up. All in all, it was a traditional homecoming pre-game picnic.
The other events—a “powder-puff” football tournament, a bonfire, and a luau—failed to generate enough student interest to allow the weekend’s events to be rightly termed a Homecoming Weekend.
The “powder-puff” football tournament, at the Willie Stanton Memorial Field Thursday evening, pitted two sorority teams and the women’s basketball team against each other in brutal, vicious, two-hand touch gridiron competition over the course of a three-game tournament.
The women’s basketball team, possessing more experience in athleticism, defeated the Alpha Phi team 28-0 in the first game, but was held to a 7-7 tie by the stellar Pi Beta Phi defense in the final “Powder-Puff Bowl.”
As an event, the games were very entertaining for all present. When viewed as part of a homecoming weekend, however, it was not well attended and did not add at all to the spirit.
The luau, held in the McNeil Room Saturday night, was somewhat better. It garnered a crowd of about 40 people, and there was a surprising amount of activity on the dance floor. The music was loud and the food spread could have perhaps been a little bit larger, but the decorations were cute and the Hawaiian theme was enjoyed by all present.
Although the “powder-puff” football game and the luau failed to ignite homecoming thrill, the bonfire, which traditionally has a purpose of generating excitement for the game the following day, made the other events seem positively spectacular.
Anyone who was within the vicinity of the Commons Friday night would have been drawn to the Commons Quad by the echoing music coming from the hired DJ. They would not, however, have been drawn by an impressive stack of fire. Usually a homecoming bonfire brings the entire campus dressed up and painted; this event only had about 20 attendees.
Despite a good basis and clever ideas for activities, a substantial increase in publicity might have helped the whole of the weekend become more than the sum of its parts.
Editor’s Note: Parts of this article were written by Victor Parkinson.
