What began as a rainy day didn’t stop dedicated students, staff, and alumni from getting in on Carleton Ravens pride as one of the most anticipated days rolled around: homecoming.
With the return of Ravens football, Carleton’s first homecoming in 15 years included full days of events, from a chemistry magic show, to tailgating, to a free pancake breakfast.
Tailgating
Despite the dreary weather, the tailgating area was packed with cars, tents, and the smell of cooked meat on the barbecue. Clubs, fraternities, and alumni groups filled the area wearing everything from Ravens gear to navy engineering flight suits.
Carleton piloted tailgating on campus by creating an exception to the university’s alcohol policy. According to the homecoming website, the new tailgating policy allowed for alcohol consumption only in the designated tailgating area for those 19 and older.
Groups could purchase tailgating parking spots in advance to celebrate before the game, but had to leave before the football game started, the website said.
Pre-game events and game-day food drive
Before the Ravens vs. York Lions game began, the focus was on the pre-game events hosted in parking lot five.
Engineering students got in on the homecoming action by dyeing themselves purple.
“It’s a tradition at Carleton. We go purple for frosh week and for homecoming. They actually asked us to go purple because it’s an engineering tradition,” third-year civil engineering student Adam Mikolajczak said.
A food drive for the Ottawa Food Bank and Carleton Food Centre was held with the goal of raising 5,500 pounds of food, the weight of Carleton’s football team.
“It’s just a fun way to tie it into homecoming and the fact that the team came back this year,” said Erica Butler, a director with Carleton’s Student Philanthropy Council (SPC).
The final total for the food drive was 1,150 pounds, according to the SPC.
Department of Chemistry magic show
The Department of Chemistry hosted its annual chemistry magic show to a full house of students, families, and alumni.
The show celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Faculty of Science with the theme “Blast from the past.”
Robert Burk, chair of the chemistry department, helped lead the demonstrations in the show. He said his favourite parts included the more explosive experiments.
“Whenever you say, ‘Should we blow something up?’ the fans go wild,” Burk said. “I like to blow stuff up. Anything that goes bang or gives you big flames.”
