The crepe paper was flying yesterday as students teamed up with organizations from around campus to decorate buildings in honor of Homecoming week.
Students hailing from Greek Row, living on campus and those involved with the Alumni Association crafted decorations for their respective buildings while incorporating this year’s theme, “True to U.”  The sororities and fraternities teamed with departments across campus for the first time this year.
The Alumni House was adorned with large posters featuring hand-drawn pictures of opposing football team logos.
The Alumni House was allocated $100 in order to finance this year’s decorations. The Alumni House also sought donations and “worked with what they had,” said John Fackler, director of the Student Alumni Board and the MUSS.
“It’s fun, it’s competitive. [Students] show what the school means to them,” Fackler said.
He added that he felt students showed their pride decorating the house.
Sarah Hammer, a senior in exercise sports science and a member of Alpha Phi, helped decorate both her sorority house and the Alumni House. She said the Alumni Association, Officers Circle and Housing and Residential Education worked to configure the budget this year.
On Greek Row, each house has an allowance based on how “into [the decorations] they get,” Hammer said.
“A lot of it is using what we used before last year. We’re trying to incorporate something where less poster board is used or less flyers are bought. [We’re] just finding a way to make it worth it but be financially stable as well as environmentally friendly,” she said.
Alpha Phi utilized the navigation maps located throughout campus as inspiration for their decorations. They created a map navigating onlookers through every school the football team plays this season. The map ends with a massive U, celebrating school spirit and emphasizing the “True to U” theme.
“It’s a big deal because it brings a lot of bragging rights, especially for the greek houses,” Hammer said. “[Greeks] want anything they can to say ‘we won this or we won that.’ It just makes it fun, and it also brings the students together to celebrate Homecoming, because a lot of students don’t recognize that it is Homecoming Week.”
Hammer believes house decorating is the most visual way for other students to see the pride and the excitement that goes into Homecoming Week.
Carina Hahn, a junior in material science and engineering, hopes the decorations raise student awareness and interest in Homecoming.
“Students that just come to class and want to go home afterwards [to] families and work, it’s maybe not possible for them to attend these events or participate,” Hahn said. “It is difficult to reach out to those kind of people to get them more involved in Homecoming Week, but hopefully just seeing that the school is celebrating its spirit will inspire them to feel a little more at-home on campus and maybe get them to stay for one extra event throughout the year.”