Rowan kicked off its Centennial Homecoming, “Celebrating a Century”, this Monday, with the Homecoming Kickoff at Robinson Green. Students, faculty, and staff were able to enjoy food outside in the fall weather, play some games, try their luck with a sweatshirt raffle, and visit multiple tables where they could get information about different organizations and clubs on campus. 

Inflatable ax throwing, mirror pictures, and an “Apple Bobbing” inflatable game were some of the activities that were scattered around the lawn. Students enjoyed food from the local restaurant Carolina Blue and even if they did not want to participate in activities, there was plenty of room to relax and sit outside. Computer science majors Bless Suh-Neba and Moses Adams took part in the axe-throwing activity, letting off some steam after their class.

“I don’t really stay on campus, so this kind of like an opportunity for me to like, come on campus and experience Rowan life a little bit,” said Adams.

There were also tables where students were able to talk about their campus organizations and clubs. One of these is the REC Center, where they handed out candy and stickers to attendees who visited. 

Leah Camma, a graduate student majoring in TV studies was working the table, where she mentioned her favorite upcoming events on campus this week. One of them was battleship, a canoe competition hosted at the REC Center.

“My favorite part probably about homecoming is battleship which is hosted in the REC Center and it’s a lot of fun,” said Camma. “If people haven’t been to battleship it’s basically like people getting canoes and then they go against other people and they get buckets and they try to sink the other people’s canoes. And that’s on Wednesday it’s a lot of fun.”

The kickoff was in an effort to welcome the entire Rowan community and get them excited for a week full of events and school spirit, according to Lauren Kuski, who is the associate director of programming and administrative operations.

“It’s been spectacular,” said Kuski. “It’s a wonderful way to welcome all of our students, undergrads, grad students, faculty, and staff to kick off the homecoming season and get us excited for the week.”

Turning 100 years old this year, the theme of this week’s Homecoming events is based on the history of Rowan. Melissa Ulmer, the assistant director of marketing & student programs at the student center noted that this year is special for students and alumni alike.

“Well, for starters we’re certainly seeing more people come back to campus to join the celebration, which is always exciting,” said Ulmer. “Secondly, I believe it’s a perfect opportunity for students to really engage with centennial celebrations, and finally, we’ve enhanced a lot of our programming and just leveraged each event as an opportunity to not only promote homecoming but continue the narrative of special it is to be a part of such a historic celebration.”

Homecoming events will take place all week on campus, closing off with the big football game Saturday against Christopher Newport University and RAH’s $1000 Bingo. 

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