Homecoming banners express what an organization stands for and shows how creative a club can be in its designs. It is a great opportunity for student organizations to express what their club means to them and to get some recruitment, as well as support.
The top two winners for the banner competition in the Student Org Division are the Black Student Union and GeoEnvi.
The Black Student Union is an organization that helps motivate and retain students on campus. They have activities that strengthen cultural awareness and they provide help to students professionally with social, cultural, and educational problems.
Gloria Cornelius and Reana Smith created the design for the banner for the Black Student Union Organization.
“We went with a Scream-inspired theme for our design, calling it ‘Lights, Camera, Scream.’ We wanted something that felt spooky and fun, with a nod to both Halloween and Warhawk Homecoming spirit,” Cornelius said. “The idea was to capture the cinematic horror vibe but also represent our school pride. So, we included the Scream mask, the main campus building, and some film elements like cameras to tie everything together.”
The Black Student Union won first place in the banner competition, showing how creative they were with their designs and how much their ideas showed through their banner.
GeoEnvi is an organization that brings students together and expresses their passion for geographical, geological, biological and environmental science.
Holland Engele designed the GeoEnvi Banner, which is themed after the movie Sharknado. The banner includes sharks and tornados which correlate with their weather and marine biology focuses.
“I put a fun twist on it while including required aspects of the banner for homecoming, and also some design elements that I liked,” Engele said.
“I exaggerated the shark and drew the eye towards that first, with the large GEOENVI in its mouth; super cool and effective at grabbing attention,” she said. “Then I have the tornado drawing the eye downward, with a stop off at the giant tidal wave that bears the slogan: Lights, Camera, Homecoming.”
She continues,” I like playing with bubbly letters and water, so this was perfect. In the distance at the bottom of the banner you can see a small Uphan Hall, paying respects to GeoEnvi’s home base, and where many of us now live.”
Engele describes this experience as,” It was difficult getting the banner out in only 3 days! But I’m glad it’s hanging up there, and I’m proud of our organization for coming so far this Homecoming. It’s only our second year being involved since 2003.”
Both of these student organizations have worked hard and have expressed what their club means to them and their community through their banner. Both banners have turned out well and you will be able to see them in the Homecoming parade. Every year the student organizations decorate a banner for Homecoming Week, so if you missed the parade this year, make sure to come out next year and support students who have worked hard in their organization and their creativity for their banners.
