ECU's Homecoming Committee previews upcoming events

East Carolina University cheerleaders march in last year's parade.

One of the biggest weeks of East Carolina University’s fall semester is now being planned behind the scenes by a group of thirty students, dedicated to making six days in October an event-filled week worth watching for.

ECU Homecoming 2018 will take place from Oct. 15-20 and will consist of traditional activities such as the banner competition, skit competition and the canned food drive. Taking notes from the small screen, this year’s homecoming theme is “Pirate TV.”

The 2018 ECU Homecoming Committee started to come to fruition in the spring 2018 semester, according to ECU’s Assistant Director for Organization Development Krista Wilhelm, and consists of veteran members and newcomers who showed interest via OrgSync or in their respective committees within the ECU Student Activities Board.

Anfernee Williams, the leader of the homecoming Cannonball subcommittee, said students should expect to be amazed and have lots of fun at this year’s event-filled homecoming.

“Homecoming will kick off with Cannonball on the campus Mall, which is a big welcome event, (that) gets everyone excited for homecoming and to be a part of homecoming,” Williams, a senior university studies major, said.

Cannonball will begin with the Parade of Pirates on Oct. 15, which is a parade that any ECU student can partake in. Students who choose to dress up as pirates or with ECU gear will have the opportunity to march on the campus mall during Cannonball.

“At Cannonball, students can expect lots of games, inflatables, music, free food, t-shirts and giveaways,” Williams said. One new attraction Cannonball is offering this year is a graffiti art station.

Molly Roth, a member of the ECU 2018 Homecoming Committee, said the committee is trying to make homecoming more inclusive this year, therefore students who aren’t members of organizations on campus will have a chance of winning the spirit cup.

Following Cannonball will be the banner competition, which will take place on Oct. 16. The banner competition allows different organizations on ECU’s campus to design banners which meet this year’s theme and will be hung in the Student Recreation Center. Winners of the banner competition will be announced on the Tuesday before the homecoming concert, which is headlined by Atlanta rapper Lil Baby in Wright Auditorium, according to members of the ECU 2018 Homecoming Committee.

Moving into the middle of the week on Wednesday, Oct. 17, the homecoming committee will host a “Pirate TV” themed skit night in Minges Coliseum. There, each organization who signed up will perform a dance with a story that relates back to the theme of the week, according to members of the ECU 2018 Homecoming Committee.

“That’s probably one of the more populated student events because everyone likes to come out and watch the organizations compete.” Roth, a senior hospitality major, said.

Chair of the ECU’s 2018 Homecoming Committee, Sydney McLeod, said she’s expecting “a good turn out” for ECU’s homecoming trivia night, which will take place Oct. 18th at 7 p.m.

This is the first year, according to McLeod, that ECU is having a homecoming trivia night where students will be questioned on ECU and pop culture. The trivia night will consist of teams with up to six competitors and the winners have the opportunity to win $1,000.

“Dr. Hardy (the ECU Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs) has kind of challenged the homecoming committee to reach out again to students that aren’t necessarily always involved in organizations,” McLeod, a senior marketing major, said.

To conclude the homecoming week, the ECU 2018 Homecoming Committee will be partnering with ECU Club Sports for the canned food drive, taking place on Oct. 19 at the food bank from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Last year, the committee raised up 24,000 pounds of food and they hope to raise even more this year.

Later that night during the pep rally at Freeboot Friday in downtown Greenville, the top three skits from the skit competition will perform and the runner ups for ECU Homecoming King and Queen will make an appearance.

Commencing this year’s homecoming week will be the announcement of Homecoming King and Queen during the homecoming parade, where competing and non-competing organizations will show off their “Pirate TV” themed floats on Fifth Street. The parade will also include cheerleaders, a high school band, fire trucks, alumni recipients, the chancellor and his wife and more.

“We really like the theme too,” Roth said. “I think it’ll be fun and it’ll be easy to not get the same thing for every skit, for every float [and] for every banner. There will be a lot more variety this year.”

For more information about this year’s homecoming, visit the ECU Homecoming 2018 official webpage.