The big weekend of the term for freshmen has arrived two weeks earlier than last year, giving first-year students less time to prepare for the festivities.
Class council elections were held earlier and condensed planning time for the weekend. This is problematic since freshmen members of Student Assembly play a large role in planning the big weekend. Class president John French '17 saw the rush of events as just another part of the job.
"I feel like college is all about being ready to do a lot of things quickly," French said. "I didn't go into this just to be president, I expected to have work to do."
French will lead his class in planning and executing freshman Homecoming activities, including mapping out the route of the Freshman Sweep and the building of the bonfire.
Almost immediately after arriving on campus, first-years developed a bonfire committee to construct the traditional blaze and plan spirit stations, where freshman clusters gather before the Sweep on Friday afternoon. Gillian O'Connell '15 said spirit stations play host to traditionally fun activities.
"In our common room in Fahey, we had a pizza party, glow sticks and face paint before joining our class in the parade," O'Connell said.
The bonfire committee, which is composed of 13 members this year, designed the freshman Homecoming T-shirt and orchestrated the construction of the bonfire. Traditionally, only two homecoming chairs are picked, but because of strong interest in the homecoming chair search, Jose Vazquez, assistant director for the Collis Center for Student Involvement and advisor to Class Council, decided to create a larger committee.
"We just decided that it was a lot of work for two students," Vazquez said.
Planning for Homecoming started within the first weeks of term, organizing teams for build crew, T-shirt design, cluster outreach and volunteer recruitment. Lauren Huff '17, a member of the bonfire crew, said she got involved because of the importance of tradition.
"I wanted to be a part of this team because I think it's such an integral part of the Dartmouth experience," Huff said. "It's such a big tradition that is unique to Dartmouth and I wanted to be a part of making something like that happen."
For freshmen, Homecoming starts around 6 p.m. on Friday at the spirit stations. The Freshman Sweep begins at 7 p.m. at the River residence cluster and proceeds to every cluster to pick up all members of the class. The Sweep then morphs into the Homecoming parade through the streets of Hanover, which eventually leads the freshmen onto the Green. Evelyn Weinstein '16 said the Sweep and run around the bonfire were some of her favorite parts of her Homecoming.
"It was this really awesome experience," she said. "I went there with all my friends, and we all had on the same shirts. It was really positive. Hearing 4,000 people sing the alma mater was amazing. The signs even read awesome things like run if you want to' and don't touch the fire without consent.'"
While they wait to run around the bonfire, freshmen will hear performances from a capella groups. They will also hear other classes and alumni chanting their class year, the singing of the alma mater by the entire Dartmouth community and an address from College President Phil Hanlon.
After the address comes the most anticipated part of the night: the lighting of the bonfire. Members of Class Council and the bonfire committee have the special honor, and freshmen are encouraged to run around the blazing structure up to 117 times.
Jean-Luc Beaubien '17 said that Homecoming will help deepen the bond between the freshmen and upperclassmen.
"Homecoming is the first big interaction between the '17s and the other classes, especially considering the new six-week rule, so I think it's going to be an amazing experience," Beaubien said.
