Strength in Stripes: Mizzou Homecoming

My friends Maggie and David tailgating outside the stadium!

Homecoming. It's a tradition almost every high school student knows. But the origin? How many of you readers know how it started? 

For those of you who don't know, it started right here at Mizzou! In 1911 Athletic Director Chester Brewer invited past alumni to "come home" for the annual Mizzou v. Kansas game. That game is a BIG DEAL. The arch rivalry between the two schools has been present for more than a century, so that really set the tone for how big homecoming would become here at MU. While we don't play University of Kansas for homecoming each year, we still go big for the game!

Homecoming at Mizzou is characterized by several main events. First is the World's Biggest Blood Drive (recognized by the Guiness Book of World Records)! Each year MU holds the blood drive in the Hearnes center, where they collected 4,262 units of blood. This is part of homecoming competition, so each participating Greek house (fraternities and sororities) give blood. Don't be surprised if you have people asking for your blood when you get here, they'll want you to donate for their house! The blood drive is the week before homecoming week, but there are deferral days the next week.

During the actual week of homecoming Residential Life has their own competition. This includes painting banners to be hung from their common areas, a BBQ, and the parade. I worked on the Rollins (Gillett and Hudson) banner - which had a Kung Fu Panda theme. This was part of the larger theme of Blockbuster hits in the last decade. The BBQs were also a lot of fun. I went BBQ hopping, and each one had something different to offer. RGC's had live music, Pershing Commons had a giant blow up slide, and Bingham's featured everything from a Cupcake Walk, Pie a P.A., and face painting! Oh yeah, and there was tons of free food to go around!

The banner I made for RGC! The amount of glitter was atrocious! 

Even before all the homecoming festivities begin, Greek life is preparing! For the House Decs, which all of Columbia comes out to see, the sororities and fraternities pair up together to create elaborate backdrops.

Madagascar

These are pomped, which is tissue paper art. Hours upon hours are spent constructing these! During house decs each pair put on their own themed skit! Here are some of the pictures from this years house decorations. 

Cars

Then the morning of the game is the parade! Prefaced by a free pancake breakfast, the parade starts the day of homecoming off right! It's perfectly acceptable to roll out of bed and head out there too. 

Marching Mizzou, all the Greek and Residential life floats, and other community foundations participate. Be prepared to stock up on candy, because most of the 160+ parade entries have goodies to toss out! 

Mizzou homcoming is such big deal that we recruit some pretty impressive floats... if you can call it that... 

The Oscar Myer Weinermobile!

And finally - the game! It'll be sold out - that's a guarantee. Buy yours early just to make sure you get one! People are really spirited, so be prepared to arrive early, cheer loud, and stay late! We shut out Colorado with a whopping 58-0 score! Tailgating before is fun, but make sure you make it to the game on time so you can take it all in. This year they had Marching Mizzou Alumni come and play. It was really fun to see 40+ year old people coming back to MU! 

My roommate Mystle, Annica, Maggie, and I all face painted for the game.

Homecoming at Mizzou is an event you don't want to miss out on. Even if you're not a football fan, make sure you make it to the game. If only for the atmosphere and environment. Seeya next year! MIZ - ZOU! 

Sisterhood & Sororities

It has begun: the whirlwind known as college life. Two weeks ago I was procrastinating packing up my final belongings, buying extra sheets, and saying goodbye to friends. I had no idea then that MU would be such an exhilarating experience. These last few weeks have been jam-packed with move in, sorority rushing, welcome activities, and, of course, hanging out with all my new friends. Oh, and there may have been some school work in there too!

Because I was participating in sorority rush week (the largest ever at Mizzou with over 1,000 girls) I was able to move in a few days earlier than others. Quick word of advice on move in: come early and be prepared for the long haul. My family and I arrived right on time, 10:00 sharp. Already though, people’s belongings were piled high waiting to be transported to their new home. Overall though, the experience wasn’t as bad as I feared it would be. We got a cart right away, and only had to make a few trips. In a matter of hours my dorm went from drab to fab!

Sorority rushing began the next day with a bang! There were about 70 girls in my rush group and we all had to line up alphabetically. Anxiously we waited for the blowhorn to sound, at which point the sorority house doors would swing open to chanting girls. The first two days progress with excited singing and lots of socials. You spend 25 minutes talking to several girls from each chapter, as you get to know them and vise versa.

Rush week progressed with more socials. Eventually though the preferencing process had to begin – after all, you can’t join 14 sororities. After the first two days you would start to narrow down your choices for which houses you would like to visit. After the open house round there was Skit Day. This was where you could get a sense of each house’s sense of humor. Next up was philanthropy day, which showcased each sorority’s individual charity. The conclusion of rush week ended with preference day, where you get all dressed up. It’s a serious day, filled with stories from girls in the chapter. By this point most girls have made up their mind and proceed to make their final selections.

My friend Lauren and I on Preference Day!

The night before bid day some characterize by restlessness, but is definitely worth the anticipation. On Saturday morning, after a week filled with sisterhood, all the girls gather on the quads. In unison, everyone opens their bid day cards. After the grand reveal the chapters take you back to the house.  

Throughout the week I got to meet so many cool girls. My opinion of the week was that of even if you have NO intention of joining a sorority you should go through rush week. It is such a fun experience and opens you up to so many different girls you probably wouldn’t have met anyway. Even if you’re not feeling like a social butterfly, it’s still worth it so you can move in early and beat the rush!

Oh! In case you’re wondering… I pledged Phi Mu!

Quick Facts about Greek Life at Mizzou:
• Students in Greek Life are more involved on campus than non-greek students
• There are 14 Panhallenic sororities here at Mizzou (with the recent addition of Tri-Sig)
• The average G.P.A. of Greek students is higher than that of non-greek students
• All Greek Life members are required to take Greek2Greek, which is a class that encourages responsible living

For more information visit: www.mugreeklife.com