This year, Homecoming Weekend will take place Oct. 20-22 and includes “Student for a Day” events, sports games and the annual Spirit Parade. President Elam will also be sharing his future vision in the Occidental Promise keynote address Oct. 21 at 11:30 a.m. accompanied by speeches from alumni music industry leaders and artists.
Two of the “Student for a Day“ events will be held by economics professor Andrew Jalil and cognitive science professor Carmel Levitan Oct. 20 at 2:15 p.m. and 3 p.m. respectively. They said they aim to recreate the classroom experience as well as engage the Occidental community in prevalent topics.
“One of the main purposes of the Student for a Day event is to get outsiders, parents [and] alums to kind of get a sense of what it feels like to be a student here at Oxy,” Jalil said.
Professor Jalil said he will be speaking about macroeconomic history and its applications in the future, and that he wants to recreate the feeling of being in a classroom.
“It’s a meaningful opportunity for people to kind of remember, ‘What is it like to be a student again? What is the Oxy student experience?,‘” Jalil said.
Levitan said the Center for Research and Scholarship (CRS) and the Office of Alumni and Parent Engagement asked her and Jalil to speak about ChatGPT. Professors Julie Prebel and Carolyn Brighhouse along with librarians Kathleen Makarewicz and Eli Chartkoff will also be presenting at the “AI and Pedagogy” panel.
“This is something that a bunch of us at Oxy are thinking about,” Levitan said. “We thought it might be an interesting topic for people coming to Homecoming Weekend because it has received so much media attention.”
Volleyball player Skye Garcia (senior) said her sights are set on the athletics games that occur during Homecoming Weekend. She said she has a couple of different goals for the women’s volleyball game against La Verne at 6 p.m. Oct. 21.
“Obviously winning is always the goal, but I think getting a crowd out there [is a goal too] because a lot of Oxy students are athletes, but we don’t have a ton of school spirit,” Garcia said. “My sophomore year we had a really, really big crowd, at least for the first set. A lot of people came, a lot of people’s parents came to Homecoming… our team really feeds off the energy.”
Garcia said it is important for all students, especially those living on campus, to get involved and take advantage of the various events and opportunities during Homecoming.
“Go see the sports teams or go eat some food, go talk to people. If your parents are coming, hang out with them,” Garcia said.
According to Director of Alumni and Parent Engagement Dana Brandsey, the sports games are a huge draw not just for students and parents, but alumni and other community members as well.
“I hope that this inspires alumni and families to continue to stay connected to the college,” Brandsey said. “Being interested in continuing to learn about what our faculty are up to, going to watch a sports or athletic match when they can.”
Brandsey also said that her team have worked closely with SLICE and student departments to have Homecoming bridge all of Occidental’s connections both on and off campus.
“It’s to celebrate Oxy in this shared experience that we have, whether that’s as an alum, a faculty [member], a parent or a student,” Brandsey said.
Assistant Director of Alumni and Parent Engagement Kelsey Belli said Homecoming Weekend will celebrate all aspects of the college’s growth and nostalgia for alumni returning to campus.
“We want to create diverse and exciting programming through the weekend to appeal to everyone who’s coming back to see what’s new, to reestablish memories of what campus looks like when they were here,” Belli said.
Brandsey and Belli said that students can get involved in Homecoming Weekend events, like the Spirit Parade, through other clubs and organizations that will be active during Homecoming Weekend.
“You can see in the Spirit Parade — which will happen on Saturday during Oswald’s Homecoming Celebration — how much student athletic programs, various clubs and organizations, all come together to participate either with a car, with a bike,” Belli said. “There was a cardboard car walking down last year, that was great.”
Though Homecoming Weekend may not be a source of nostalgia for students now, it is an opportunity for them to create strong attachments and memories to the college, Brandsey and Belli said.
Levitan said they are excited to have Homecoming Weekend as an opportunity to engage with the Occidental community.
“It’s always great to connect to parents, and it’s great to connect to alumni, whether I’m talking to them in a more formal setting or during casual events like Parents Weekend,” Levitan said. “It’s great hearing about their [alumni] experiences and seeing their love for Oxy, especially the ones who come back and are really excited and intellectually engaged.”
Contact Siena Cawrse at cawrse@oxy.edu
