University's homecoming to focus on anniversary of Academic Hall

Southeast Missouri State University's homecoming celebration next week will focus on the 100th anniversary of the school's stately Academic Hall and give some area residents a chance to peek inside the dome.

Floats in the homecoming parade on Oct. 29 will depict Academic Hall from the 1940s through the 1990s.

Southeast's landmark structure opened in January 1906 on the hilltop site of the old Normal School. Fire destroyed the old brick school on April 7, 1902, prompting the construction of the domed Academic Hall.

Jane Stacy, director of alumni services, said it's fitting to honor Academic Hall at homecoming.

"It is the only building that everyone who has ever gone to school here can identify with," she said.

This year's homecoming is the 33rd that Stacy has orchestrated. She said it's the first to draw attention to Academic Hall.

In addition to the focus on the building in the 9:30 a.m. parade, several marching bands will play 15-minute sets in Academic Auditorium to "Rock the Dome." The musical entertainment will start at 11 a.m.

A picnic and pep rally will be held on the lawn terraces east of Academic Hall. The picnic starts at 11 a.m. and will include relay races for children and a dunking booth. Kent Library will sponsor a "bug hunt" where children will search for matching toy bugs to crack a secret code for prizes.

The Golden Eagles, Southeast's marching band, will perform at a noontime pep rally.

Southeast will conduct tours of the Academic Hall dome from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Oct. 29 and Oct. 30. But Stacy said the tours are by reservation only.

Stacy said every spot is filled for Oct. 29. About 150 people that will get to view the inside of the dome that day, she said.

The university will conduct the tours in groups of 12.

A little more than a dozen openings remain for the Sunday tours, Stacy said. Reservations can be made by calling the university at 651-2930.

The tour excites Debra Baughn of Cape Girardeau whose family obtained the blueprints of Academic Hall at an auction of former university regent and legendary Cape Girardeau civic leader Louis Houck.

"I saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to go up in the dome," said Baughn who graduated from the then University High School in 1970 and later graduated from Southeast.

"Academic is a really neat building," Baughn said. "My husband and I had our first date there. We attended a concert in Academic Hall," she said.

This year's homecoming theme is "Same Places, New Faces."

Parade route

The parade will start at Broadway and West End Boulevard, proceed east on Broadway and then south on Main Street.

Doyle Privett of Kennett, a 1973 graduate of Southeast and a former member of the school's board of regents, will serve as parade marshal.

Ella Ruth Aufranc of Kansas City, who was a member of the class of 1930 at Southeast, will also be honored in the parade, school officials said.

The 96-year-old woman first attended classes at Southeast in 1926.

Southeast will provide a shuttle service to bus visitors from the Show Me Center parking lot on Sprigg Street and the Centenary United Methodist Church lot at 300 N. Ellis St. to Academic Hall for the 100th birthday celebration and to Houck Stadium for tailgate activities after the parade.

Shuttle buses will begin running at 10 a.m. and continue throughout the day, school officials said.

This is the first time the university has offered such a shuttle service at homecoming. "Parking is always a problem," Stacy said.

The shuttle service should make it more convenient for people to attend the post-parade activities, she said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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