Warhawks groove to the Homecoming tune

With smiles and laughter, Warhawks surrounded Bayou Park Circle as they cheered on the performers for this year’s Homecoming Greek Unity Stroll-Off.

This year’s homecoming theme was nostalgic—“The Legacy Continues.” 

Homecoming took off with a memorable pep rally in the Downtown Monroe area and peaked at the football game against South Alabama.

Brandon Hannon, a junior toxicology major, attended most of the homecoming events this year to support the school.

“This year, I liked what they did with some of the events like the hot air balloon ride and the Greek Unity Stroll-Off,” Hannon said. “I enjoy this kind of stuff that brings everybody together where we can meet with our friends and possibly meet a couple of new people.”

The week-long Homecoming celebration was put together and hosted by CAB with the help of other on-campus organizations like Greek Life and Chi Alpha.

The stroll off was a chance for ULM’s Greek Life to present a united front to show the campus that they are not only brothers and sisters within their organizations but under the umbrella of Greek Life.

Jada Williams, a junior biology major, was able to only attend the stroll-off because of work and class but she was excited to attend the football game the following day.

“It was fun to see the unity between everybody and the sororities and fraternities trying out their dances,” Williams said. “It was also a good opportunity for them to showcase the different Greek Life organizations and their talents.”

The stroll-off was more than a way to showcase the talents and moves on the bayou. It was also a competition to see how well the Greek organizations could work with each other to produce a dance routine worth bopping to.

The Delta Sigma Theta and Alpha Omicron Pi team won the sorority division. The Alpha Phi Alpha, Phi Beta Sigma and Kappa Sigma team won the fraternity division of the competition.

“I think the winners won by a landslide. They showed a lot of energy and they are always at the activity center practicing,” Hannon said. “I felt like they deserved it.”

Ja’kasia Johnson, a senior nursing major, said she enjoyed the events with free food and believes the week-long celebrations helped promote Saturday’s Homecoming game.

“I also think we should have a Homecoming concert,” Johnson said. “Similar to what we do in the spring but for Homecoming.”

Williams said that she would like to bring back the high school homecoming dances to the college homecoming experience so international students can experience American homecoming dances.

Alise Stephens, a junior health studies major, enjoyed this year’s homecoming week because of how engaging the events were post COVID restrictions.

“This year’s homecoming celebrations were better than last year’s because the COVID restrictions were looser and we got to do a bit more,” Stephens said.