Hi there, readers! My name is Katie Cole and I am a senior (don’t make me leave) at Indiana University majoring in History. I transferred here for my sophomore year from Indiana State and, to say the least, it was a bit of a shock coming from a relatively small school to one with over 40,000 students.

It is hard to find somewhere you belong and to not feel like a number at a place this big so it was scary at first. My solution was to rush a sorority, which ended up not being something I was interested in. I decided to do more searching until I could find a place where I belonged. I was lucky to make some really great girlfriends at the end of sophomore year and that made me feel a sense of belonging.

But that was not the end of my story. The summer after my freshman year I worked at The University of Notre Dame’s Alumni Association and became obsessed with the world of event planning with their reunion. It paved a natural path toward my current position with the programs team at IUAA.

I decided to get in touch with IUAA’s CEO, J T. Forbes, the first semester of my junior year to find out how I could get involved here. It was an awesome experience sitting down with J T. and learning about the Student Fellows Program and what he and the staff do here at IUAA, so I was interested from the start. The next semester I interviewed at IUAA and a few weeks later I was elated to hear that I had gotten the job. I started this past May and it has opened so many doors for me. I have never been as involved with this campus as I am now that I am with IUAA. Quickly after I started here I learned that my biggest focus would be on Homecoming.

Homecoming, Homecoming, Homecoming…it has been my life since I started here at IUAA. I was very excited to be given my Homecoming Steering Committee to help me with the process and work as a liaison to areas of the student body with which I am not personally connected. My committee and I met once a week since the beginning of the semester to discuss and debrief the specifics of everything that makes Homecoming great. We were at tables in the Union promoting, out presenting to student groups and organizations about our events, reaching out to students via free stuff and social media, trying to get people to participate, and bothering everyone and anyone we knew about this week of events. I learned so much from them and they are part of what made Homecoming so successful this year. Leading this group of students is one of the greatest privileges I have had during my time at this university.

Working with IUAA staff on Homecoming was a dream. I am so blessed to be surrounded with such a competent and efficient group of people from whom I have learned so much. Mike Mann and Amy Oakley, the King and Queen of all things Homecoming, were so patient and helpful as I learned about the inner workings of helping to plan Homecoming. Through all the stress and long hours I always felt very thankful for the team I had by my side. Working together with them to make Homecoming great made it even more rewarding. As for the rest of the staff at IUAA, everyone was so ready and eager to help us and were committed to making this event go as smoothly as possible. It is because of the people we have here at IUAA that we are able to pull off events like this. There are not enough thank yous in the world to show my appreciation for all the help they gave us.

For me, Homecoming was an overwhelming experience in the best way possible. There are so many aspects that make Homecoming what it is. Homecoming Court was one of my favorite parts because it was fun reading the applications and putting bright, smiling faces to them when they came in for their interviews. They were all so much fun and even volunteered to help us out at IU Spirit Day; their involvement and dedication to their positions meant the world to me.

The parade was definitely the biggest and best part of Homecoming for me. Our route changed this year from going down Kirkwood Avenue to going down Woodlawn Avenue instead. Since it was a new route, it had a way of keeping everyone on our toes. We exceeded our goal of 60 participants with a total of 70 participants. The outcome was nothing short of amazing. Obviously, with a big event like this, I was nervous about the little details that matter so much. Before and during the parade my role was to be stationed onstage with our announcer, DJ Unique, and to be his right-hand man before the parade started. While I was on stage mentally preparing myself for what was ahead, I looked out over the massive crowd on Woodlawn and my heart was so full of contentment that I almost started to tear up.

Then the concentrated voices of Mike, Amy, and Tricia came through my headset as the parade was about to commence and the whirlwind began. The order of the parade changed constantly—as soon as I heard changes, DJ Unique and I frantically scribbled them down in our scripts before that part of the parade made its way toward our end of the route. We ended up in a dance of sorts, swapping our scripts back and forth as he announced the approaching participants. Before I knew it, the parade was over and it was time to announce the King and Queen.

At that point I couldn’t believe it was over and how well everything went. Having never experienced Homecoming from the inside, I am very glad I had this experience and would not trade a minute of it. As for next year, we hope everyone can make it out again to make it the best week ever!