Ole Miss Homecoming This Weekend
OXFORD – University of Mississippi students, alumni and friends look forward to an array of activities Friday and Saturday (Oct. 3-4) during Homecoming Weekend, planned around the theme “Ole Miss is Calling You Home.” “Homecoming Week is a special time on campus and a tradition that the Ole Miss family looks forward to each fall,” said Jennifer Taylor, campus programming director. “The Student Programming Board sponsors a variety of activities at the Student Union throughout the week. The week culminates with the annual homecoming parade traveling through campus and the town square.”
Highlights include the Alumni Awards Day Ceremony, Fall Visit Day opportunities for prospective students, and a gridiron match with South Carolina. “We are looking forward to all the homecoming activities we have planned this year,” said Bradley Baker, campus programming student affairs coordinator. “We are especially looking forward to the pep rally with Coach Nutt on Thursday afternoon and the parade on Friday. All in all, this should be a beautiful week for homecoming festivities.”
Activities get under way at 5:30 p.m., when the Pride of the South Band strikes up for the parade, beginning on campus at the Lyceum Circle and continuing on University Avenue to the Oxford Square. A pep rally is scheduled at the end of the parade route.
At 6 p.m. Friday, in the Gertrude C. Ford Ballroom at The Inn at Ole Miss, the university’s highest alumni award, the Ole Miss Alumni Hall of Fame, is to be presented to six outstanding people. The free, public event also honors the recipients of the Alumni Service Award and the Outstanding Young Alumni Award for their service to the university and the Alumni Association. A dinner for the honorees follows the reception.
Fall Visit Day is set for Saturday, with activities planned for prospective students to get a firsthand look at campus life. Registration opens at 8 a.m. in front of Martindale Student Services Center. Campus tours and maps are to be available, along with a schedule of the day’s activities.
“Fall Visit Day provides prospective students and their parents a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the university,” said Jody Lowe, associate director of admissions.
“Representatives from academic programs, student organizations, student life and academic support services will be on hand to talk with visitors. I think it will be an outstanding day for our guests.” Pregame ceremonies at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium begin at 12:30 p.m. and include the introduction of Alumni Hall of Fame inductees and recipients of other alumni awards.
The Ole Miss Rebels take on South Carolina at 1 p.m. Halftime ceremonies feature crowning of the 2008 homecoming queen, senior business major Claudia Cowan of Wichita Falls, Texas. The new alumni award honorees also are to be presented at the annual meeting of the Alumni Association at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Gertrude C. Ford Ballroom. New Alumni Association officers are to be elected at the meeting, which is open to members of the Alumni Association.
For more information or assistance related to a disability, call Student Programming at 662-915-1044 or the Alumni Association at 662-915-7375. For more information about the UM Alumni Association, visit http://www.alumni.olemiss.edu/welcome/.
