Participation in homecoming week has grown so much that planning it has become a full-time job. Two full time jobs, actually.
This year, the Student Activities Association created co-director positions that focus solely on homecoming to accommodate student growth.
Kay P. Maye, a senior English education major, said he thinks his position as co-director is unique.
“The amount of autonomy that I am allowed to exercise has made my job both enjoyable and rewarding,” Maye said. “We began planning for the week last spring, and I feel as though this opportunity has made me grow as a leader. Many of the events were original ideas from our committee, so it’s also nice to see their joy during the week.”
Maye said homecoming, to him, is embracing each part of campus.
“As current students, it is important to understand how attached we are to the institution,” Maye said. “This attachment should be celebrated in some fashion. Whether we know it or not, we have grown from our connections with this institution as the institution has grown from its connection to each of us.”
Brittany Watson, junior engineering major, is also a co-director and said she’s honored to have this opportunity.
“I feel really fortunate to be given this opportunity to be one of the first homecoming directors,” Watson said. “I really enjoy working with KP, who is the other co-director. I feel honored because I love Ole Miss, and I love being a part of the Ole Miss family. I’m happy to be able to help make Ole Miss homecoming what it is.
Watson said Ole Miss is her home away from home.
“I am the first one in my immediate family to actually go to Ole Miss,” Watson said. “It feels like my home away from home. I understand the connection people feel even after they leave because of what Ole Miss means to me. I’m excited that I get to work with all of the students.”
Over the past few years, the Student Activities Association has tried to ramp up homecoming activities to accommodate the increase in attendance for the game. The current student population is now a little more than 23,000, one of the highest in the state.
Jim Urbanek, assistant director for alumni communications, has been a part of the university his entire life. He said the university has changed tremendously since he was in enrolled as a student.
“We are so much larger now that it is hard to even compare us today to the university of the early ’60s,” Urbanek said. “The enrollment in the fall of 1963 for example, the year after James Meredith enrolled, was just over 4,300.”
Urbanek graduated in 1997 and moved, but he returned to Oxford and started working for Alumni Affairs in 2002.
“Everyone seemed to know each other back then,” Urbanek said. “We’ve doubled in size again just since I was a student. The closer we’ve come to present day, the more activities our students and alumni have available to them. Taking all that into consideration, I believe we are doing great with what we offer. We provide more opportunities and are certainly more inclusive.”
Penelope Jones, a 1990 graduate of Ole Miss, said she remembers homecoming week as an enjoyable time for students. The homecoming activities keep her coming back each year.
“We always had homecoming dances, a pep rally, a Greek show and a concert in the grove,” Jones said.“My favorite part of homecoming week was the Greek show … It was always a lot of fun to see fraternities and sororities compete. Sororities and fraternities from other schools would come, which made it a lot of fun because other people were on campus.”
Bradley Baker, director of the Ole Miss Student Union, said homecoming week is a significant part of being a student because it serves as another reminder of how special the Ole Miss family is at the university.
“Whether we are playing an SEC team or a team from another conference, we always have a great turnout for homecoming events and festivities,” Baker said. “Our two homecoming co-directors have been working hard since the spring semester to reshape the mindset of homecoming.”
