Homecoming in my eyes is a time for organizations to express their school pride and promote themselves to other students, community members and alumni. As part of the managerial staff on the Royal Purple, one of my short-term goals was to get the publication more involved with this year’s Homecoming Week festivities.

Each of the previous two years, the Royal Purple has participated in the Homecoming parade, but not in any of the other activities planned throughout the week. While the parade allows the paper to promote itself to the Whitewater community, it does not exactly impact the student perception of the paper as much as some of the events earlier in the week.

 I planned on having the Royal Purple staff participate in some of the social and interactive events such as study night and the outdoor games in an attempt to create student recognition of the paper. In previous years, non-recognized student organizations have only been allowed to participate in the Talent Show and Parade. Due to this rule, the Royal Purple seemed to unfortunately was not able to express their campus pride in the past few years. This year, however, the Homecoming Steering Committee made an exception, allowing organizations like the Royal Purple to participate in other events.

With that newly granted ability, I signed the Royal Purple up for the Banner Contest, Study Night and Bed Races in addition to the parade. Even though we may not have won our events, the objective of promoting the Royal Purple during this week of celebration through was met with flying colors.

What I hope for next year’s staff is that they continue to get more involved in campus-wide celebrations like Homecoming and further expand awareness of the Royal Purple across the campus.