Dear Editor

School spirit, campus-wide involvement and the affirmation that the Sioux suck. These are all things that we hope to accomplish during SUâs Homecoming Week. As the chair of the Homecoming Committee, I hope the events of the week were received with positive sentiments.Ê

It is important to point out that there were some modifications in the way that Homecoming Week was planned this year. In the past, there was a designated committee that focused their total efforts on the weekâs events. This year, Campus Attractions became the group that was largely responsible for coordinating the weeklong festivities. We also utilized representatives from Bison Ambassadors, Blue Key, IFC, Panhellenic Council, RHA and numerous other areas of campus to make some modifications to the line-up of events, rules for some of the competitive events and the spirit point guidelines.

For those of you who are unaware, Campus Attractions is our universityâs student programming board, which is responsible for providing entertaining and educational programs to our student body throughout the year. We sponsor events such as bands, lectures, comedians, solo musicians, weekly movies, Welcome Week, Bison Blizzard Bash and Spring Blast.Ê

On behalf of the Homecoming Committee, I would like to thank everyone who helped make this yearâs festivities a huge success. If I tried to list everyone that assisted us throughout the week, it would be impossible because I know that I would leave someone out. However, I do want to mention a few specific departments. The staff of the Physical Plant, Festival Concert Hall, Athletic Department, Dining Services, Residence Hall Association and the Alumni Association all contributed to the weekâs success.

Most importantly, in my humble opinion, I want to thank the staff of the Memorial Union. To say that they have ãbent over backwardsä for us would be an understatement. As a member of C.A., the Memorial Union has been my home away from home for the last three years.Ê Any time that an organization has hosted an event, their incredible staff has made sure that we have had all of the tools necessary to make the program a success. For that, we cannot thank them enough.

We more than doubled the attendance of last yearâs Homecoming events. This yearâs outdoor showing of ãFast and the Furiousä had nearly 400 people in attendance! There were barely 50 people at our first outdoor movie three years ago. Approximately 500 people attended or participated in the Bed Race Competition!

This has been a learning experience for me, as well as for my staff members. There will always be things that we can improve upon for next year. I think itâs safe to say that we learned the most from sponsoring comedian Dave Attell. We wish to thank everyone for the overwhelming support for his performance. The attendance was phenomenal, making it one of our most successful events of all-time. This was the first time, in many years, that our organization sponsored an event that involved a performer with national name recognition.Ê

We realize that there were some people that were unable to attend Attellâs performance because our venue(s) had reached capacity. We wish to apologize for that, but we also ask that you understand that we are student leaders that are here to learn and grow from past experiences. Are there some things that we will do differently? Of course! Will we invite performers to our campus that have national name recognition in the future? Itâs a good bet! Why? The demand is there. Ten percent of our campus population attended Dave Attell, but the demand was even higher than that. By attending all of the FREE events available to you throughout the year, sponsored by many great campus organizations, you are entertaining and educating yourself in a setting outside of the clasroom. Not to mention, you are also paying for it!

To the students and staff that I have had the privilege of working with, thank you for your dedication and hard work. Oh, and if you really dig the idea of seeing famous people perform at NDSU, check out Dustin Diamond (Screech from ãSaved By the Bellä) on our campus on February 22, 2002.Ê

Kelly Junker

Campus Attractions President