Burning with nostalgia for their beloved Penn and desperate to watch the Quakers football team hammer the helpless Tigers, alumni returned to campus for the annual Homecoming this weekend.
"It's been great seeing old friends," 2003 Engineering graduate Vimal Vora said. "I think it's important because everyone spreads out after graduation."
Homecoming began on Friday with the Penn in Print series -- part of the new intellectual focus of Homecoming -- featuring talks and discussions on literature written by Penn alumni. The day ended with the Alumni Award of Merit Gala, a recognition of lifetime achievement at Penn, an event that had record attendance.
In some respects, Saturday continued reacquainting alumni with the scholarly aspects of Penn life, with the architectural walking tour of Penn and museum tour being two of the day's more intellectual activities. But mostly, the day was devoted to one goal: having fun.
The Penn-Princeton football game was naturally the focus of the day, though pregame events included a Quadrangle open house, a cooking demonstration by White Dog Cafe and the traditional Tailgate on the Green.
The tailgate consisted of many groups trying to excite the pregame atmosphere. One table sold this year's Homecoming game T-shirt. Some groups sold toast to fling at the end of third quarter, while others tried to garner interest in their organizations, such as the United Minorities Council and the Alumni Office. Several a cappella troupes also performed, all in an attempt to raise some Penn pride.
"I like the idea of school spirit," College junior Carl Foreman said while selling brownies to raise money for children as part of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity's social work program. "Penn's generally quite apathetic... but this is a lot of fun."
Organizers of Saturday's event felt there had been an improvement over past tailgates.
"It's been going great," Junior Class President Matt Klapper said. "We've been lacking something when it comes to tailgates... but we're getting there."
The tailgate, primarily a social event, allowed alumni to reconnect. And several said they found it comforting to realize their friends had not radically changed since they last saw them. Now that many former students are in the professional world, Homecoming offers some useful opportunities.
"It's a great experience to get together with people who you don't see," 2002 College graduate Celine Thompson said. "It's also a networking experience."
Perhaps no Homecoming event presents quite the myriad of such networking possibilities as the Taste of Penn Diversity Celebration, held on Saturday night in Huntsman Hall. The event displayed some of the benefits of diversity with free food, drinks and music from several cultures. Not surprisingly, a large number of alumni always attend.
"This event is amazing," 2003 College graduate Eugena Oh said. "Free food from all over the world... it's the event to go to."
The University also had something to gain from Homecoming.
"When you get close to graduation, it's kind of implied that they'd like you to give back," 2003 College graduate Shaun Gonzales said. "I've heard that later on, you start receiving direct requests for money."
Yet that may not be a problem for alumni -- many of them loved their life at Penn and feel that for the University to remind them of their good experiences is a sensible business strategy.
"I still feel that strong connection to people on campus," Oh said. "From my development perspective, Homecoming is a great way to invest alumni in Penn."
