By Laura Citino
Western Herald
(Western Herald file photo)
Warm up your vocal chords and your school spirit for Yell Like Hell, taking place as part of this year’s Homecoming on Thursday, Oct. 22 at Miller Auditorium.
Sure to be the loudest of the Homecoming events, Yell Like Hell invites registered student organizations, academic departments, and student groups of all shapes and sizes onstage at Miller to compete for the best yell or cheer.
A panel of university officials and other personalities on campus will judge each group on creativity, energy, and volume of the cheer, as well as the overall spirit of the team as a whole.
A cheer’s adherence to the rules is a big criterion for judging.
For example, each member of the team has to wear either a team or Western Michigan University t-shirt on stage.
Each cheer must include a mention of Western Michigan University, the Homecoming theme, the name of the group, and the names of at least three other groups or departments at WMU.
This ensures group spirit as more important than an individual competition.
At events like this, the level of WMU remains high. Groups support each other in their common enthusiasm for Western.
“Lots of people come to watch,” Homecoming’s student co-coordinator Kris Banks, a junior majoring in journalism, said.
“It’s always fun to see what the other teams come up with.”
Yell Like Hell and the rest of Homecoming’s events combine the enthusiasm and drive of individual student groups and departments with the larger purpose of fueling school pride at WMU.
That goal that remains is the general idea behind Homecoming and the many great events it offers.
The theme of this year’s Homecoming is “Brown and Gold: Never Grow Old,” is a message that each student can take to heart.
“We’re trying to revive the school spirit,” said Banks.
“We’re trying to infuse the entire campus with a feeling of school pride.”
For some students, this might be the first Homecoming they really participate in, freshmen and upperclassmen alike.
Even a senior like Stephanie Jones is looking forward to what is going to be her first “real” homecoming experience.
“I just never got into it before,” said Jones, who is majoring in biomedical sciences. “But I’m not too busy this semester for once, so I think I’ll come and check it out. It seems like fun.”
Besides, when an entire campus is in an uproar of school spirit and good vibes, the sheer enormity of Homecoming might be hard to ignore.
“You can’t really avoid it,” Jones said. “So why not?”
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