The Student Confederation is revamping Homecoming this year to increase school spirit, according to Student Confederation Vice President Jason Trombley.
The theme of this year's Homecoming is "Election" and to be consistent with this theme, the Homecoming King will be renamed "Head of State" while the Homecoming Queen will be called the "First Lady."
"It's a huge election month and a lot of the broader SC program has focused on this," said Trombley, who, as SC vice president, is in charge of programming. "So we're targeting [this theme] for election month."
Homecoming will kickoff the Wednesday after Fall Break with a Fall Pageant in the Tavern. Local designers and stores can showcase their fall lines for AU students. The festivities will continue through Saturday where events will be held all day. These events include the American Classic 5K race, an Alumni Barbeque and a Women's Soccer game.
Trombley said he hopes to see everyone out there having a good time and enjoying the festivities.
The SC also hopes to revamp Family Weekend, according to Trombley. This year Trombley is trying to set up a "Taste of Tenleytown" where restaurants in Tenleytown and surrounding areas will sponsor AU nights with special menus and discounts.
Trombley said he thought of this theme working at his internship over the summer. He wanted families to have an easier time to have fun in the city.
"We really want to accommodate to the families for that one weekend," Trombley said.
Plans for the Founder's Day Ball are in its early stages and the SC is currently searching for a venue to host the event. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Corcoran Gallery of Art are two of the leading contenders in the quest for a location.
"It's in early stages and we have four months to work out the plans," Trombley said. "Hopefully we'll outdo last year's event at Union Station."
Trombley remains optimistic about the outcome of the event, believing it will be a great chance to showcase the SC's work over the past few months.
Recently, the SC has focused recent efforts on hurricane disaster relief, according to Trombley.
The SC started a fundraising campaign to aid Grenada after AU alumnus, ambassador Denis Antoine's wife, approached the student government and asked for its help. Antoine's two sons also attend the University. Grenada was particularly hurt by the hurricanes by a sharp decline in both nutmeg and tourism, two of its main sources of income.
The SC expanded their hurricane relief efforts to other Caribbean islands and is trying to organize an alternative Spring Break program to one or two of the islands. Antoine spoke with members of the SC to thank them for their help. FedEx has offered to ship supplies free of charge to Grenada for the SC, Trombley said.
The SC is relying on the assistance of clubs and the greek community in order to accomplish their programming goals, Trombley said.
Trombley said he hopes this year's programming will "tell the student body [we have] school spirit and unity."
"We hope that the strong tradition will continue to build from the past and make [the student body] more of a community every day"
