Jacksonville is being painted “True Blue” as Illinois College celebrates homecoming week.
WLDS’ “What’s On Your Mind?” program featured IC President Barbara Farley and Director of Alumni Relations Kristin Jamison on Friday. Farley says there’s been a heightened enthusiasm throughout campus early on in the school year.
“We welcomed our largest first year class in over a decade to Illinois College at the start of our classes in August, and we welcomed, overall, three hundred thirty-one new students to our campus and to Jacksonville and it’s really a lot of energy and excitement on campus. It’s been a terrific fall for Illinois College, and we believe that what happens that is great at Illinois College is great for Jacksonville and the region,” says Farley.
“Under the True Blue Sea” is this year’s homecoming theme and as Farley explains, each year’s events are organized by the students themselves.
“The theme is determined by our student activities board. The homecoming events organized for students are run by students. They have great decorations all over campus and ‘blue’ has to be in the name, because we are ‘True Blue’ forever, and it’s been a really, really fun week for the students,” Farley notes.
As for today, the homecoming parade gets rolling at 10 a.m., and according to Jamison, this year’s route has been slightly altered.
“We have the homecoming parade which is always something the alumni love as well as the community of Jacksonville. We have at least eighty-five entries. I did want to point out that there’s a little bit of a change to that parade route, we head downtown to the square and instead of taking a right at the square we’ll take a left. So we’ll go clockwise around the square onto Mauvaisterre, and then from Mauvaisterre go to College (Avenue),” says Jamison.
Several IC athletic teams are in action today, starting volleyball against Lawrence University at 11. Following the parade, the Blueboys football team takes on Grinnell College with kickoff slated for 1 o’clock.
Illinois College homecoming culminates with the formal dance from 9 p.m. until 1 a.m. tonight at Cummings Dining Hall.