News Editor, News Reporter
Elm Quad was thundering with a stampede of Mavericks last Friday as CMU’s annual Homecoming kicked off with its carnival and bonfire rally.
While CMU alumni gathered for their annual dinner and President Foster met with community members at the President’s dinner, a record number of students flooded to the center of the university to partake in a variety of games and activities.
“The purpose of Homecoming is to foster school spirit,” Student Body President Ariel Diamond said. “A lot of its purpose is getting everyone excited to be a Maverick and having a lot of fun.”
CMU’s PAC and ASG worked extensively throughout the week to prepare for the event, staying true to age-old traditions while attempting to accommodate the record breaking influx of freshman that hit CMU this year.
“We’re sticking with a lot of our old traditions, which is a lot of fun. I think the only thing that is changing with homecoming is it’s getting bigger and better,” Diamond said.
CMU’s student clubs and organizations set up a variety of booths to advertise themselves to potential members while encouraging them to engage in fun games geared toward a carnival-like setting.
“I think the carnival is a cool opportunity for clubs to get out and show mass amount of people who they are,” Diamond said. “A lot of people that wandered to the carnival probably didn’t know that we had a lot of those clubs, and when they can see clubs all out having fun, I think it’s a huge way for clubs to showcase what they’re all about and meet people they wouldn’t meet before.”
Many of the clubs at the carnival were first-year clubs spreading their wings and becoming more widely known on campus, one of which was Welcome to My World, an antiviolence group that is dedicated to spreading awareness of bullying. They had two large walls set up where students could write secrets or anything they felt needed to be heard.
Longer standing clubs like Peer Motivation had a bean bag toss with body parts instead of bags while the Dance Society gave dance lessons to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and CMU’s fraternity Kapa Sigma hosted a water pong competition with garbage cans instead of the traditional red solo cups.
“The carnival is a lot crazier than last year, and it’s the biggest I’ve ever seen,” said Krista Peterson, the president of the Drama Society.
The evening concluded with the much-anticipated bonfire, preceded by a speech from Ariel Diamond and football coach Russ Martin. CMU’s marching band played in the background while PAC members set a replica of Blaster the Burro, Colorado School of Mine’s mascot, ablaze to symbolize the intense football game that was to follow Saturday evening.
Though many students seemed really fond of all the activities, it seemed the space wasn’t quite large enough.
“The booths were creative, but there were too many people in one tiny space,” freshman Destinee Reed said. “Next time ,they should put it in one of the fields.”
The carnival seemed to be a big hit with many students, but at the rate CMU is growing, they may need to plan for a bigger space next year.
kmorrow@mavs.coloradomesa.edu, cferganc@mavs.coloradomesa.edu
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