After a year of limited campus visitors, Bluffton has begun to offer the events students, alumni, faculty and staff have come to know as Bluffton favorites along with new additions.
One of the new parts of homecoming this year includes spirit day themes. Students are encouraged to dress up to enter a contest to win prizes by the office of student engagement. The theme days include pajama day on Monday, jersey day on Tuesday, spirit day on Wednesday, flag football team colors on Thursday, and pink for breast cancer awareness month on Friday.
The week began with faculty follies starring Darryl Nester, Mark Bourassa, Jeff Gundy, coaches and admissions staff.
Students playing bubble soccer as part of homecoming week activities. Photo taken by Elizabeth Rockwell.
There was also bubble soccer on Tuesday at 8 p.m. in Founder’s Gym sponsored by Marbeck Center Board.
Some other events happening this week include a men’s soccer game, volleyball games, a football game, a men’s golf tournament and a women’s soccer game. On Wednesday the men’s soccer team plays Defiance at home at 3:30 p.m. while the women’s soccer team plays Defiance at Defiance at 4:30 p.m. Holly Metzger, director of the office of student engagement talked about the exciting things happening on the rival game day.
“There will be free giveaways out there,” Holly said. “We’ll have some t-shirts students can have, and lots of fun prizes students can win.”
Other events for sports fans happening include a flag football game on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Salzman stadium.
The flag football game is a new event sponsored by the office of Student Engagement in collaboration with the Student Athletic Advisory Committee. Each residence hall has been given a color as follows: Neufeld – white, Ramseyer – red, Hirschy – black, Hirschy Annex – pink, Bren-Dell – blue, Ropp – orange, and commuters – purple.
The busiest day of the week will be Saturday. Tailgating begins at 10 a.m. ahead of the football game against Mt. St. Joseph, which begins at 1:30 p.m.
Cornhole at Parents Weekend. Photo taken by Elizabeth Rockwell.
The theme for this game will be a white out, so Bluffton fans are encouraged to wear white. There will be giveaways of a homecoming t-shirt and a cup for the first 100 students who come. Along with the giveaway, there will be six food trucks in Salzman stadium. Along with the food trucks, there will be a zipline to enjoy as well. Jessi Samuel, the annual funds manager, coordinated homecoming this year for the first time.
“I took the time to see what we have done in the past,” Samuel said. “I came up with ideas of how we could revamp it and add more to it for our alumni. Alumni are used to coming back for Mayday and graduation. We took the time to rebrand it as an alumni and homecoming weekend.”
Alumni events had already commenced on Sept. 25 for the baseball game. Following suit, the alumni
Spectators at the alumni baseball game during Parents Weekend. Photo taken by Elizabeth Rockwell.
softball game will be at 11 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 3. Alumni will join students on campus this weekend for the homecoming day festivities.
