Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University’s Homecoming week kicks off Monday, Oct. 5, and continues through Saturday, Oct. 10, with the theme “Totally Tigers.” It will be packed with all of the wonderful Ouachita traditions of Getting Ready for Ouachita’s World (GROW), Tiger Tunes 2009 and numerous other activities for students and alumni.

The celebrations begin Monday at noon, when students can eat at Lunch on the Lawn, hosted by Ouachita’s Student Senate, and be introduced to the 2009 Homecoming candidates. Monday also begins the “Deck the Halls: Floor Banner Battle,” where each freshman floor will decorate a spirit banner to compete against the others for placement at the football game and a study break during finals week. A Clark County Dinner will be held at Dr. and Mrs. Wesley Kluck’s home Monday at 5:30 p.m. for Ouachita alumni and their families who live in Clark County.

On Wednesday, Ouachita will host the “Chamber of Commerce Community Coffee” at Arkadelphia’s Town Hall from 9:30 to 11 a.m. to celebrate Homecoming with Arkadelphia’s business and community leaders.

For the first time, Ouachita’s Student Senate will host an after party immediately following the dress rehearsal of Tiger Tunes on Wednesday, Oct. 7, in the Ouachita Commons. The entire student body is invited to attend. There will be coffee, hot chocolate and cookies and those in Tunes are encouraged to wear their costumes to extend the Tiger Tunes excitement.

GROW, an opportunity for high school juniors and seniors interested in Ouachita to experience OBU overnight, begins Thursday with check-in at 5:30 p.m.

Lori Motl, director of admission counseling, said, “GROW is the best time for prospective students to come onto campus and really get a feel for what life is like here on a day-to-day basis.”  Participating students can attend a dinner banquet along with other GROW students, a Tiger Tunes performance, spend the night in a Ouachita student’s dorm and sit in on classes with current OBU students and professors.

Parents who travel to campus with GROW participants may also attend Thursday’s GROW banquet and have the extra opportunity of a brunch with Ouachita’s deans and President Rex Horne.  Afterwards, they will have a financial aid session with Chris Kear, director of student financial services.

Tiger Tunes 2009 is the 31st annual show produced by the Ouachita Student Foundation (OSF) to raise money for student scholarships. The performances will be Thursday, Oct. 8, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 9, at 5 and 8:30 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 10, at 7:30 p.m. All performances will be held in Jones Performing Arts Center on Ouachita’s campus. Tickets for Thursday’s and Saturday’s shows are sold out, but tickets for the Friday performances may be purchased from $15-17 online at www.obu.edu/tigertunes.

Refuge, a student-led worship service will be held at First Baptist Church immediately following the Thursday performance of Tunes.

Continuing the Homecoming celebration on Friday, alumni can participate in the U.S. Bank Homecoming Golf Scramble beginning at 9 a.m. at the Glenwood Country Club, where more than 100 participants will hit the greens for recreation fellowship.

There also will be alumni dinners held Friday for the classes of 1983, 1984 and 1985 in Ouachita’s Walker Conference Center at 7:30 p.m. and a dinner for the classes of 1973, 1974 and 1975 at the home of  President Horne at 5:30 p.m.

The Homecoming festivities will culminate on Saturday, Oct. 10. Before the football game, Ouachita Alumni will host the second annual OcTiger Fest from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Social Clubs, campus organizations, academic departments and sports teams will provide outdoor drop-in receptions throughout the center of campus. There will be a live tiger for the first time, sponsored by the Student Senate and Ouachita Alumni as well as a CubZone for children with games and inflatables. There also will be reunion lunches on the Cone Bottoms lawn for the classes of 1969, 1979, 1989 and 1999.

A Texas-style barbeque lunch will be served at OcTIGER Fest from 11 a.m. until 12:45 p.m.  Lunch tickets ($10 for adults and $5 for kids under age 12) can be purchased on-site, and Ouachita students eat free with their ID card.

In the Homecoming football game, the undefeated Tigers will take on the Harding Bisons at 1:30 p.m. at A.U. Williams Field. Pre-game activities including the crowning of the Homecoming queen will begin at 1 p.m.

For the sold-out Tiger Tunes finale on Saturday night there will be a live simulcast of the performance in Verser Theatre for alumni and guests without tickets for the finale. The simulcast, known as “Tunes: The Movie,” will be hosted by Ouachita’s campus newspaper The Signal and OSF and admission will be provided on a first come, first seated basis. A recommended donation of $5 will be collected at the door and will go toward student scholarships.

OSF will also host a silent auction in the Jones Performing Arts Center lobby at the Tiger Tunes finale, and all monies raised will benefit scholarships.

The second annual live broadcast of the finale of Tiger Tunes will be available to watch online courtesy of the online Signal. In addition to broadcasting the entire show (social club performances and host and hostess sets), the online Signal team will provide behind-the-scenes interviews with cast members and special Homecoming news stories before and after the finale as well as during intermission.

To view the Tiger Tunes webcast live, log on www.obusignal.com on Saturday night before 7:30 p.m. to view the entire show. There will be a link on the home page to direct viewers to the webcast.  Last year’s finale is also available to watch online and the 2009 finale will be available after the live performance has aired.

By Rebecca Stone