by Christi Mathis
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Mother Nature provided a beautiful week for Southern Illinois University Carbondale to celebrate Homecoming 2024 – “Salukis on the Frontier” style. Numerous festivities took place Oct. 7-12, and several community groups, alumni, current students, faculty and staff won honors.
SIU Carbondale’s Homecoming parade has numerous participants and a large crowd of viewers. (Photo by Todd Duermyer)
Parading the streets
Bands, floats, marchers and other participants took to the streets of Carbondale to the delight of a large, appreciative audience for the annual homecoming parade as it wound its way onto campus for tailgating and the big football game on Saturday, Oct. 12. SIU alumnus and longtime Saluki announcer Mike Reis served as grand marshal. Winners included:
Large float: Alpha Gamma Rho and Sigma Alpha.
Small float: SIT – Saluki Service Dogs.
Band competition:
- Class A: HarrisburgHigh School.
- Class B: Gallatin CountyHigh School.
- Class C: CarbondaleMiddle School.
Royally good time
The fun moved on to Saluki Row and Saluki Stadium for tailgating and football as the Salukis took on the North Dakota State Bison.
The homecoming court was recognized at halftime, and homecoming royalty, chosen by online student voting, was announced. Eric Metz and Lora Judge were chosen to reign over the festivities.
Judge is a senior political science/pre-law major with a minor in paralegal studies from Mount Carmel, Illinois. She is president of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute ambassadors, vice president of administration for Alpha Gamma Delta sorority and secretary of the Pre-Law Association. Metz is a senior agriculture business economics major with a communications minor from Plato, Illinois. Originally from Burlington, Illinois, he is the president of the FarmHouse fraternity and is passionate about agriculture and leadership.
The court also included:
- Jack Aldihaimawi, a senior business management majorfrom Belvidere, Illinois.
- Cheyanne Bristol, a senior crop, soil and environmental managementmajor with a minor in agriculture education and systems from Chillicothe, Illinois.
- Izzy Burkhardt, a senior art education majorfrom Dwight, Illinois.
- Andre Council, a senior information technologymajor from Chicago.
- Leslie Duran, a senior aviation flight and management majorwith a minor in airport management and planning from Elgin, Illinois.
- Zuzanna Gaik, a junior double major in linguisticsand sport administration with a minor in public relations from Elk Grove, Illinois.
Saluki Hall of Fame recognizes inductees
Saluki Athletics also inducted its 2024 Hall of Fame class, which was honored during the game: Jorge Delgado (swimming), Korey Lindsey (football), Rick Murray (baseball), Rishonda Napier (women’s basketball), Sally Perkins (athletic trainer) and Rick Walker (swimming and diving coach).
Festooning SIU
Students, faculty and staff alike showed their school spirit by joining in the 2024 Campus Door Decorating Contest. For the first time, there were two door decorating competitions this year drawing more than 35 entries, and the winners received trophies. The winners for campus offices and units were:
- First – Human Resources.
- Second – Undergraduate Admissions.
- Third – Student CenterAdministrative Office.
- Honorable mention – SIU Alumni Association.
The inaugural University Housing door decorating contest invited students to decorate their doors in student housing facilities. The winner was Olivia Ashby, a sophomore architectural studies major from Salem, Illinois.
See pictures of all the entries on the Student Programming Council Facebook page.
Student organizations across campus also joined in the fun creating decorated banners and more to claim prizes in the RSO Spirit Competition and the Greek Life Spirit Competition. The Dawg Pound won the RSO competition while Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) and Alpha Gamma Delta (AGD) won the Greek Life contest. Each group was rewarded with a pizza party.
Looking ahead
Planning is already underway for Homecoming 2025. Watch the SIU Homecoming webpage for the announcement of next year’s homecoming dates and details. For more information, email homecoming@siu.edu or call 618-536-3393.