Registration is now open for the 100th anniversary of Homecoming, Oct. 16–18! This month, our “Countdown to 100” story series goes behind the scenes with some of the people bringing the weekend to life. Keep reading for a sneak peek at what they’re planning and what awaits alumni this fall.
The 100th anniversary of Homecoming is just a couple of months away, but the Queen’s Bands are already warming up.
There’s music to learn, routines and drill shapes to create, a parade to Richardson Stadium to plan. It all takes months of work – especially this year – and fourth-year Concurrent Education student Bailey Van Geel couldn’t be happier to be right in the middle of it.
“To be able to celebrate 100 years of building this community is truly something special, and we can’t wait to help alumni relive old memories and make new ones,” says the Bands’ operations manager and bass clarinet major.
The Bands aren’t the only ones in the thick of Homecoming planning.
Across campus and well beyond, hundreds of staff and volunteers are at it behind the scenes. They’re bringing back moments from the past century. Finding new ways to connect alumni and students. Figuring out how to show where Queen’s is now, where it’s going, and how alumni can be part of it all.
Lauren Broadhurst, Artsci’19, has seen Homecoming from both sides: first as a student volunteer for all four years of her degree, and now as a Homecoming and reunions officer.
Recently, she has been combing through old issues of the Tricolour Yearbook, the Queen’s Journal, and the Queen’s Alumni Review.
“It’s been so fascinating to see how Homecoming has evolved and changed, but that there’s always been an experience for everybody to have,” she says.
That idea is also shaping the Homecoming 100 program.
“We really want alumni to feel like tourists at their own university again – to rediscover this place,” says Rachel Castellano, Executive Director of Alumni Strategy.
That might mean walking back into Grant Hall on Friday or Saturday for Welcome and Check-In, where many crossed the convocation stage, then heading out to look across the street as the .
It could also mean touring the High Performance Training Centre – and getting a workout in with varsity athletes – or hearing General Wayne Eyre discuss the challenges facing Canada’s National Defence.
Beyond campus, alumni can hop on a bus to the Queen’s University Biological Station for a look inside its new Environmental Science Research Centre or even celebrate HoCo 100 closer to home at special branch events happening around the world.
And for those looking for a quieter Saturday afternoon, Fall Harvest Alumni Gathering will be on Agnes Benidickson Field with lawn games, local makers, live music, and food trucks. And yes, the petting zoo will be back.
Alumni themselves are getting in on the behind-the-scenes action too, planning more than 70 class reunions. This year’s milestones span five to 65 years, and a few alumni will be back to celebrate a whopping 70 years since graduating.
For many of those classes, Carey Morrison is the connector. The reunions and class-giving officer helps reunion organizers find former classmates, choose meaningful venues, and turn shared memories into plans for the weekend.
“Reunions can’t be cookie-cutter,” she says. “The special sauce is in the little things – going back to the place your class went every Friday night for a smoker or reviving an old water-polo rivalry and finding a pool for the rematch. Those are the moments that make you think, ‘Oh my gosh, I remember. I have to go.’”
For Morrison, the goal of all the work happening now to bring Homecoming 100 to life is simple.
“You see people here for the weekend laughing and hugging and sharing stories,” she says. “There are the smiles and sometimes tears, too. And so my hope is that alumni leave with more than they came with. I hope their buckets are full.”
Homecoming 100 takes place Oct. 16–18. Register now and be part of the next century of memories.
