“A Timeless Tradition”

This was my first homecoming at SMU as a Tri Delta and it did not disappoint. A lot of people don’t realize the hard work and time that goes in to creating such an awesome homecoming for the students, parents, fans, and alumni. We began our preparation weeks ago, but the week before homecoming is when things get real.

The first big homecoming event is “Rock the Vote.” It is a pep rally were the different sororities/fraternities, dorms, and student organizations come together to show their school spirit and support their candidate. We put on our most spirited outfits, paint our faces, maybe fling a boa or two around our necks, and scream our way to Moody. It proved to be a great way to start homecoming off right. We all left voiceless and excited for the long week ahead.

As an active member of a sorority on campus I am required to complete multiple tasks in regards to homecoming, but there is one task that haunts us all: pomping. I have no clue who was sitting around one day and thought that “pomping” would be a good way to make a float, but I do know that I hate who ever it was. I WAS REQUIRED TO POMP FOR 9 HOURS (as were the rest of my sorority sisters.) While 9 hours doesn’t seem like much, imagine having to do it in a span of 4 days while you also have homework, tests, and other extra curricular activities going on…it was the stuff of nightmares. After the first day, our palms were blue and bruised from rolling copious amounts of tissue paper between them. Pomping is a southern float building technique that has since been adopted by Greek Life across the country. Basically, you roll small squares of tissue paper into balls and then glue it on wood or cardboard. It takes hundreds of thousands of balls to cover the float and the different props and signs that go with it. The tissue paper is multiple different colors so that designs and words can be made during the gluing faze. Usually, the designs are drawn out on the surfaces before hand which makes that step a little easier. When the float was due at noon on Friday we were all nervous, anticipating how ours would hold up against the competition. Tri Delts did not reign supreme.

On the way to the parade Saturday, the wind blew and sent a big chunk of our float tumbling down I-75. No one was hurt and our spirits stayed high. We met Sigma Chi, the fraternity we were paired with, at their house to gather together and get excited before the parade, and at 2:50 we marched out the front door onto Binkley and began making our way towards the Boulevard. Initially, I was dreading having to walk in the parade, but it ended up being one of the best parts of homecoming! My dog, RJ, accompanied us and was a HUGE hit. It was so fun to see the faces of past, present, and future ponies cheering for us as we danced our way up and down the boulevard!!

I almost forgot the best part of any SMU game day: brunch. While we may not have the best game on the field, SMU’s brunch scene is definitely nationally ranked. I went with a group of 12 girls from my sorority to one of my favorite spots. Pie Tap is known for their pizza, but they have so much more to offer. I like to keep things simple and usually stick with two eggs, breakfast potatoes, and toast, but since it was homecoming I figured I’d treat myself and add an 850 ml mimosa since it was a special occasion 😉 Of course, RJ tagged along and managed to grab a few scraps of food for himself.

By the end of the day, I was exhausted. Brunch, the parade, and the boulevard got the best of me. SMU really out did themselves this year and thanks to all of the wonderful volunteers, students, and faculty members, my first homecoming as a sorority woman was successful. While the homecoming festivities were fun, my biggest feat of the week was managing to not fail out of school amidst all the chaos.