“Home Sweet Homecoming” celebrates Bulldog pride and community

For the 80th year, Truman State University will host its annual Homecoming Week Oct. 19-24. The week will feature multiple daily events for participating organizations, all culminating with Homecoming Oct. 26, which includes the parade, tailgate and football game. 

Serving for his second year as Homecoming coordinator, senior Matthew Freitag said the theme picked by his committee, Home Sweet Homecoming, was not just catered towards celebrating active students and faculty, but also alumni. The Homecoming committee, made up of 13 members of various organizations across campus, planned all aspects of Homecoming, and Freitag said he was especially proud of his event coordinators for coming up with a multitude of causal and competitive events.

After making steps forward with involving more students last year, Freitag said his goal this year was to branch out and make Homecoming a bigger deal than it has been in the past. While traditionally Homecoming has relied on Fraternity and Sorority Life participants, Freitag said this year a number of outside organizations signed up as well, including True Men, Sigma Alpha Iota and all four of the residence halls. 

“We have a lot of new faces who have never participated in Homecoming before, so that has been something I want to make sure people feel welcome at,” Freitag said. “I think this is a Homecoming that is breaking out of its shell and expanding across campus in ways the student body has not seen, and I’m really excited for that.”

The Homecoming committee selected the Greenwood Interprofessional Autism Center for this year’s philanthropy. Maryellen Jenson, director of Greenwood and the applied behavior analysis graduate program, said the center focuses on providing ABA, music and speech therapy to individuals with autism.

With the proceeds raised, Jenson said the center plans to add a sensory hallway to their facilities to aid in transitioning from room to room. She said she also hopes to develop a stronger program for Truman students with autism with the money received. 

Jenson said the center is ecstatic to be chosen as this year’s philanthropy and is especially excited about being involved in the parade. After working with a few of her clients, Jenson said the center’s part in the parade will feature a racing theme, where two race cars will be present. 

“Being a part of Truman is fabulous because without the backing of Truman, I don’t know if this center could exist,” Jenson said. “Homecoming is wonderful, and we have lots of people coming back to see Greenwood. We’re just thrilled Truman was able to refurbish the old school to become a very important need in Northeast Missouri.”

To get students more connected with Greenwood, Jenson said the facility will host an open house Oct. 23 from 11 a.m-1 p.m. with pizza and a bingo card that will help students explore the center.

Even though this will be her last Homecoming at the University, President Sue Thomas said she doesn’t think of it like that. Instead, she said she views Homecoming as celebrating everyone who is at the University and is keeping the same focus as previous years – making it the best Homecoming yet. 

Thomas said her favorite part of Homecoming is the actual “home” part, as she feels so many students and alumni talk about the University as their home. She said she has no one favorite event, as each one expresses the pride every person has that they are a part of the University in different ways.

“[Homecoming] is not one particular moment,” Thomas said. “It’s not coming together as a community, it’s celebrating that we are a community. I think that’s probably what’s most powerful to me. You look at all of these different people and all different stages of their lives. and they’re all here, they’re all proud to be here. They’re all proud to be bulldogs.”

Cutline: At the Homecoming Kickoff Oct. 18, Maryellen Jenson, director of Greenwood Interprofessional Autism Center and the applied behavior analysis graduate program, speaks about her excitement for being chosen as Homecoming’s philanthropy. Jenson said the Homecoming committee set a goal to raise 20,000 dollars for the center. (Photo by Kaylee O’Dell)