HOMECOMING: PARADE FOCAL POINT OF FESTIVITIES

Kim Hill doesn't miss many Southeast Missouri State University homecoming parades. She and her husband, Mitch, live only a few blocks from Broadway, the traditional route of homecoming parades.

This year's homecoming parade will be held Saturday, and Hill will once again be stationed along the parade route. The parade begins at 9 a.m. at Capaha Park, and will proceed down Broadway to Main Street.

"We've gone at least to the parade every year that I can remember," said Hill, who graduated from Southeast Missouri State in 1983 and headed up the homecoming steering committee in 1982.

"I remember at the time, I was terrified of the job ahead," recalled Hill. "I kept saying if we had good weather, we would have a successful homecoming and it (the 1982 homecoming) was gorgeous."

Although she now views homecoming as just another spectator, she remembers the hard work involved in organizing homecoming events.

"When I see the picture of the kids hanging the banner at the start of homecoming week, I think of the kids because I know they have worked real hard to make this all come off," she said.

At the heart of homecoming is the parade, with its colorful floats and marching bands.

"There are certain events that come and go, but the parade is always the constant one," said Hill.

"Of course, the big thing about homecoming is the ability to see all of your friends and the people that you knew from college," she said.

"Almost always we have house guests (during homecoming). We live here so everybody comes back to stay with us," she explained.

The university's homecoming parade isn't the only fixture at homecoming celebrations. So is Jane Stacy, Southeast's alumni director who has directed homecoming events at Southeast since 1973. This will be her 19th homecoming.

Stacy spends a lot of time thinking about homecoming. "I usually come up with the alumni theme," she said.

"Usually it just comes out of seeing what you think needs to be stressed (about the university)," said Stacy. "I've already in my mind come up with next year's theme."

Said Stacy, "I stop thinking about homecoming in December and January, and then February I start up again."

While the parade is a constant fixture of homecoming celebrations, the themes emphasized in the parade and other homecoming events change from year to year, said Stacy.

"In 19 years," she said, "we have tried a different focus every year."

Stacy said, "The homecoming parade is nothing like it used to be." The students, she said, now have more creative ideas and use different types of materials on homecoming floats.

"Now, they think of ways the floats can move and put more thought into the theme," said Stacy.

In recent years, there have been separate themes for alumni and students. This year's alumni theme, for example, is "Salute to Business."

The students' theme is "Homecoming '91, Starring You." The floats will depict Oscar-winning movies in keeping with that theme, Stacy said.

Having separate themes allows homecoming to appeal to both alumni and students, she pointed out.

"The homecoming weekend is designed not as just a period of nostalgia," said Stacy. "We try to show where we are and where we are going, not just where we have been."

Stacy said that over the years she has learned to delegate more responsibility to students regarding homecoming events.

"It used to be I thought I had to keep my hand on everything," said Stacy. "Now, I give students responsibility and if they foul up, they foul up."

Still, little escapes Stacy when it comes to homecoming activities. She still personally handles every alumni ticket order for homecoming events.

And no one greets alumni like Stacy. "The most important thing is to know the people that are coming back" for homecoming events, she said. "They want somebody to know them when they come back."

Said Stacy, "Homecoming is still something special."