Homecoming week kicks off with s’mores and fellowship 

Students wait to get their Homecoming event cards punched.

Photo Credit: Ben Frerking

By Ben Frerking

Students enjoyed Homecoming festivities, including snacks and cider, despite changes in the weather that moved the event from the outdoor chapel to Janzow Top on Monday night.
The event was originally scheduled to be outside at the outdoor chapel, but due to weather concerns, the event was moved indoors, where students were able to chat and have s‘mores and hot cider to stay dry.

The campfire itself could not be brought inside, but organizers decided to keep the s’mores as part of the event, even though students would not be able to roast them.

Jonny Jurchen, a member of Student Activities Council, said the turnout was about three times larger than he had anticipated despite the last-minute changes, noting that a couple of events at the start of the school year also had strong attendance.

“I mean, with the dinner movie, there was a lot of people,” said Jurchen. “At the Bulldog Bash, there were quite a bit of people; we have just been having really really great turnouts this year, and that’s super awesome.”

The large turnout even caused organizers to run out of cider about halfway through the event.

“I tried to overplan for the cider, and we completely ran out,” Jurchen said.

Students also responded positively to the event. One student, Cole Buckley, said he enjoyed the event and had fun.

The event was organized by Jurchen and Nick Wiles, the assistant director of student life, who wanted to give Homecoming week a Christ-centered beginning while also bringing students together.

“When Nick and I were talking about what we wanted for Homecoming, we really wanted to have a start that we could really point back to Christ,” Jurchen said. “Obviously, Concordia’s Christ-centered community is really important to us.”

Jurchen said the idea came from the campfires held on campus last year. After attending some of those events, he thought the idea could be incorporated into Homecoming Week.

Another goal for this year’s Homecoming week is to bring together different parts of the student body and create a stronger campus community.

“We’re really trying to integrate the student community, the different sections across campus, into one big campus culture,” Jurchen said.

Jurchen said organizers made several last-minute trips to Walmart to gather supplies and figure out how to adapt the event when they had to bring it inside due to weather concerns.

“We had to kind of brainstorm different ideas,” Jurchen said.

Student Life is hoping for the strong turnout continues and that students will have opportunities to come together as one campus community with the other Homecoming events that are planned throughout the rest of the week.