It was another successful year in many ways for West Chester University’s homecoming. The weekend started off a little rainy, but by the time the parade rolled around on Saturday, it was nothing but blue skies. This year’s homecoming theme was “Stir It Up on a Tropical Paradise.” Each year there are two parts to the parade. The first part is where all the dignitaries of West Chester are introduced by Dr. Adler, the president of WCU and her husband Dr. Fred Lane. Other dignitaries included Richard Yoder, the Mayor of West Chester and our Grand Marshal this year, the host of the morning show on 610 WIP Sports, Mr. Angelo Cataldi. After the introduction of the dignitaries there were stunts done by the WCU cheerleaders and a dance by the WCU dance team to get the crowd pumped up. These were followed by an amazing performance from one of our homecoming queen nominees, Corinda Mills. Next was a great pump-up performance by the Black Student Union Company Dance Team, Addictive. They are all so talented and they really got the crowd going with their performance. To close out the first part of the parade, a few of the 2005 WCU homecoming court nominees were introduced before a performance from the alumni band. For the second part of the parade, many of the student clubs and organizations got a chance to compete for the chance to win donation money for their groups. The groups had four minutes to perform a song, dance or skit and could uses props, costumes or even create floats for the parade. The hard work really paid off this year and you could tell that everyone had such a great time performing. After all, with a theme like “Tropical Paradise,” the possibilities seem to be endless. Themes included “Gilligan’s Island,” “Havana Nights,” “The Little Mermaid” and “Copacabana,” and they were all hits with both the judges and the crowds.
This year, third place went to the Latin American Student Association for their outstanding dances and theme “Tropicana.” Second place went to Delta Zeta & Pi Kappa Phi for their hilarious and energetic performance with their theme, “The Sun, The Sand and a Drink in my Hand,” and first place went to University Theatre for their unbelievable performance of their theme, “Copacabana.” All of the groups did an amazing job and they all deserve to be recognized for their hard work and time that they put into the parade. Homecoming is all about the students and the parade would never be possible if they didn’t get involved.