With Homecoming festivities in full swing at Southern Illinois University, headlining Saturday’s events will be the Homecoming parade at 10 a.m. in downtown Carbondale.
The Daily Egyptian got a sneak Greek peek at what some of the fraternities and sororities have to display for their floats. The Homecoming theme this year being Spooktacular inspired these chapters to rush with similar ideas.
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The professional agricultural chapters Alpha Gamma Rho and Sigma Alpha have partnered as rho mates once again in hopes to take the crown for the 14th year in a row. They are going sweet and simple this year by following the general theme of Halloween. A recurring detail they have every year is Grey Dawg performing an activity atop the float.
As rho mates, it is fitting that the men and women of agriculture partner for the Homecoming parade. Alpha Gamma Rho shared that they think highly of the ladies as hard workers, and recounted the fun they have had when building the float each year. The chapters had no plans to split the work, but rather collaborated on all aspects of construction, painting and decoration.
Phi Kappa Tau, FarmHouse and Alpha Gamma Delta have formed a trifecta to seek victory, with one team and triple the members. With no design finalized as of last Thursday, they were brainstorming a plethora of ideas. A few of the members from Phi Tau had the idea of incorporating a graveyard. The ladies of Alpha Gamma Delta wanted to incorporate a movie theme. They brainstormed during an interview with the DE about doing a “Hocus Pocus” float.
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Alpha Gamma Delta chose to partner with Phi Kappa Tau and FarmHouse because of their connections to the ladies. FarmHouse was a top choice for AGD, but Phi Tau made a convincing proposal to the ladies by offering them breakfast at the house and to watch the parade from the porch. The ladies of AGD said they see this as a new opportunity to create connections for future projects and events. They came to the conclusion of working as a trio-runner instead of a duo.
Tau Kappa Epsilon pledged to Delta Zeta in hopes of dethroning AGR and Sig Alph, another team with an unfinalized design. Vice President, Phillip Hartke, shared a few suggestions they hope to incorporate. “Some ideas include building a haunted mansion, graveyard, zombie or skeleton football players, etc.,” he said.
Tau Kappa Epsilon chose Delta Zeta for particular reasons.
“They have consistently been an exceptional chapter academically, programmatically and socially,” Hartke said.
As for their workload, this set of chapters was strategic with construction planning. They divided the work between five crews — design, construction, finishing (painting and detailing), procurement (materials) and support (fun and encouragement).
Sigma Pi put a bid on winning with Sigma Kappa. They are ahead of the game compared to other chapters when it comes to planning. One of the members of Sig Pi, Thomas Dickman, suggested the idea of ‘Sigma Pi-rates of the Caribbean and Sigma Kappa Hook.’ Another member of Sig Pi, Sam Moore, had jumpstarted the planning process by making a digital blueprint of their float. A pirate ship will be sailing in this parade.
Sigma Pi wanted to partner with Sigma Kappa for last year’s Homecoming float, but a difference of interest made that difficult. They are ecstatic to be paired this year for a few reasons. They have admired the philanthropy based drive that those ladies hold and feel genuine respect and appreciation for them.
Jay Reed of Sig Pi shared his hopes that building the float together will be a great bonding experience to foster a deeper connection through hard work, in hopes of partnering for future events. These men took the hard work off of the ladies hands by splitting the construction of the float 50/50. Sig Pi had taken on the responsibility of constructing the base for the float and leaving the creativity and decorating to Sig Kap.
Staff reporter Carmen J. Tapley can be reached at [email protected]
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