This past weekend marked the return of Homecoming to RPI.
To a regular student, the balloons set up and alumni wandering around campus might have tipped them off that something was up, but who would have guessed they were back for homecoming? Had I not known any better, I would have thought a lot of alumni came back to serve as recruiters for last weekend’s career fair. All in all, the weekend was pretty uneventful.
That’s not to say there wasn’t a lot going on. Many athletic teams, fraternities, and sororities welcomed back their alumni successfully. Unfortunately, none of the events planned for all students were advertised very well.
The alumni website had a complete calendar of all the events planned for that weekend with an e-mail address connecting interested people to the leader for each event. Regrettably, the listing was only useful to the determined few who were able to find it. Personally, the only way I was able to find it was by typing ‘homecoming’ into the RPI search page. Of course, a quick solution to this problem would be to post something on RPInfo at least mentioning that there was homecoming. This event is far more relevant to students than most of the other links posted underneath the “On the Hill” section of the website. Take for example the link to the ‘Billion dollar capital campaign’ website—alumni are the people with money to donate, RPInfo is for current students, who, after paying tuition, most likely do not have any extra money to give to the school.
Beyond that, judging based on the events held, the entire weekend had a high school feel to it. And high school, I’m sure, is a place that most of us do not want to revisit. I was hoping the whole idea of a hyped-up football game, crowning a king and queen and finishing it off with a big dance left my life for good four years ago.
To give things an RPI twist, I suggest the future homecoming game is an ice hockey game. If they are interested in fully catering to RPI students, it should be broadcast on television so no one has to stop playing Warcraft to watch it. Of course, I think that’s pushing it a little bit.
Despite all the griping, I don’t think the idea of homecoming is a bad one. It was a great idea to promote school spirit. The plan was rather bold considering there hasn’t been a homecoming celebration in many years. However, I think this event was partially successful, especially for its first year. Hopefully next year events will be advertised better to students, and in turn, it will bring more people out. But, as for me, I will have graduated and I don’t think I’ll be coming back to visit RPI that soon.
