Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University will host its 2015 Homecoming week Sept. 28-Oct.3. This will mark 70 years of Homecoming traditions at Ouachita. Every year, Homecoming integrates the new with the old, bringing current students and alumni together with a shared love for their alma mater.

According to Ouachita Alumni Director Jon Merryman, Ouachita can expect around 5,000 alumni and former students to return home for the events.

“Homecoming at OBU is so unique. It encompasses so many aspects of what it is like to be a student at Ouachita,” said Student Senate Homecoming Chair Morgan Brothers, a senior communication sciences and disorders major from Collierville, Tenn. “You get to support the Tigers during the Homecoming game and then raise money for student scholarships by participating or attending the annual Tiger Tunes show.”

Of all the traditions that take place during the week of Homecoming, Tiger Tunes is consistently a crowd favorite. The song-and-dance competition not only provides entertainment throughout the week, it also helps raise funds for scholarships provided through the Ouachita Student Foundation.

“As a recipient of an OSF scholarship, watching the process and seeing how hard people work in order for me to sit next to them in class is the biggest honor,” said 2015 Tiger Tunes Director Lauren Snow, a senior mass communication major from Wylie, Texas.

Homecoming week also coincides with Getting Ready for Ouachita’s World (GROW), an event that offers prospective students an immersive experience of life on campus.

“As a high school student, I received a front row center ticket to Tunes when I visited campus. When the curtain opened, I was done. That was it! I was coming to Ouachita,” Merryman said. “I’m thankful to have this flagship, anchor event as part of Ouachita Homecoming.”

This is a special year for Ouachita football because it marks the first time in history that the Homecoming game against Harding will be televised. The game will begin at 11 a.m. and aired locally on KATV-2 as well as the American Sports Network and Sinclair Broadcast Group affiliates.

Due to the earlier game time, many Homecoming events will also change. OcTiger Fest, a time for current students of organizations such as social clubs, athletic groups and academic departments to reunite with former members, will now take place at Cliff Harris Stadium in order to make the transition to the game easier. The OcTiger Feast Reunion will be a brunch to accommodate the earlier game time.

Homecoming “is such a huge part of everyone’s fall experience at Ouachita,” Merryman noted. “The addition of OcTiger Fest, the Homecoming Street Festival, OcTiger Feast, Purple Plaza Party, Tiger Alley itself – all of these things in the past 10 years have really strengthened an already great tradition.”

Among major Homecoming activities during the week, Homecoming chapel will be held Tuesday, Sept. 29, at 10 a.m. in Jones Performing Arts Center; Tiger Tunes performances will be presented Oct. 1-3; class reunions are scheduled for the classes of 1975, 1985 and 2005 on Oct. 2 and for the class of 1995 on Oct. 3; and OcTiger Fest will be held at Cliff Harris Stadium from 9 to 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 3 prior to the 11 a.m. kickoff for the Homecoming football game between the Tigers and the Harding Bisons.

To stay up-to-date with the current Homecoming schedule and to purchase tickets for Homecoming events, visit www.ouachitaalumni.org or download the Homecoming 2015 guide on Ouachita’s mobile app. Tiger Tunes tickets may be purchased at www.obutigertunes.com. To register a high school junior or senior for GROW, call the Ouachita Admissions Office at (800) DIAL-OBU or visit www.obu.edu/grow. For more information, call the Ouachita Alumni Office at (870) 345-5111.

 

By Ali Robinson