As University of Wisconsin celebrates its 104th homecoming this week, large crowds have already gathered at campus events this week in anticipation of parades, football and alumni events.
Excitement and Badger pride was apparent at Tuesday’s “Yell like Hell” Homecoming event, following the Spirit Parade lead by the UW marching band.
The event, held at Union South, was for groups from the same fraternity or sorority, residence hall or student organization to take popular songs and exchange their lyrics with UW themed lyrics, Jared Borislow, a student on the Homecoming Committee and former The Badger Herald copy editor, said. They were judged by three fellow students and cheered on by the crowd of about 200.
“[Yell like Hell] is after the Spirit Parade, which is where we have the band and spirit squad go all around campus, starting at Dejope, down Bascom, through the Memorial Union Terrace, to Gordon, all the way over here and it ends here and that’s when we start Yell like Hell,” Borislow said.
The UW Homecoming Committee, made up of 40 student volunteers along with the UW alumni association, are the ones who plan all the events leading up to the Homecoming football game, Borislow said.
Homecoming week is made up of three different groups: Greek life, residence halls and student organizations, Borislow said. In this event, there were three Greek teams competing with one another and three student organizations.
In addition to the singing competition, there was a DJ and a performance by the student acapella group, Fundamentally Sound.
“They were very talented and actually sang one of my favorite songs … and the guys were dancing, and it was awesome, it was very lively. I enjoyed it, and I hope they do it more often,” Ivan Gamez, a sophomore participating in Yell like Hell, said.
Greek Team 5 and Alpha Kappa Psi’s came out on top as the winners of the singing competition.With the students putting themselves out there, it makes people happy and excited for more events like the ones held during homecoming week, Gamez said.
Shooting Down Cancer, or #MakeBoPay as it is known on social media, was also held at the Kohl Center Tuesday as part of homecoming week, bringing in more than 2,000 students and raising more than 275,000 dollars.
The annual event gives students the opportunity to come and shoot baskets with the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team. For every student who walks in, men’s basketball coach Bo Ryan donates $1, for every free throw, he donates $10, and for every half-court shot he donates $1,000.
Since 2012, the amount of students and, subsequently, the amount of money raised has more than doubled, Patrick Herb, assistant director of Athletic Communications, said.
While incentives, such as free food, shirts and prizes were used in order to increase numbers, students participate for the cause.
“It’s a testament to the type of people on this campus, that Coach Ryan and his wife are willing to donate their time and their money for this cause, the student-athletes on the team are willing to donate their time to volunteer at this event, and then that this event can get 3,000 kids from the campus to wait in line for an opportunity to donate money,” Herb said.
