Antoine Wood/UDC USGA | wwwAntoineWood.com
May 21st: UDC Leadership Retreat reflection
When I wrote the article last year about lack of advertising at an outstanding Homecoming concert, I had no idea what door I had opened for myself. If I was not sure before, I am sure now, that I am one of the student leaders on campus. W hile in Ocean City, MD for 4 days I was able to finally put my ideas for a great Homecoming down on paper;
some ideas of my own, other ideas coming from the other student leaders. To say the least, I am really looking forward to the next six months. Though I know there will be hard work required, the result would be worth it.
June 20th: The Planning
There are many procedures you have to deal with just to be able plan an event as a student at UDC. This was some sort of a struggle, especially as feeling though you are planning something but cannot talk contracts with people you would like to reach out to. By contracts, I mean I not allowed asking booking agencies the prices for particular artists because that is speaking for the University and since Homecoming is not being paid out of my pocket that is understood. The dates for Homecoming are established, but at this point, they made end up changed. Some people are feeling left out of the festivities, and I really want a “Homecoming Game” to be one of the focuses of the week. I am still trying to get my committee together, though it is proving to be somewhat difficult. I hope that everything can come in place soon, because I hope after Labor Day, the only thing left to do is advertising.
July 27st: The “Other” Committee
So apparently, I missed some sort of memo, as there are essentially two Homecoming Committees. There is the Student Committee, which I create and lead. Then there is the Faculty and Administrator Committee, composed of the Co-Chairs of Homecoming and other people who have actual power to get things done and put in place. I had been attempting to get a meeting to sit down and talk with administrators about dates, and location, and the plan I wanted to set forth, but I learned it had not taken place because the Faculty and Administration Committee needed to be created yet. I guess that means getting Homecoming completely planned by Labor Day is out of question. Balancing School, Homecoming, and my new job will pose some issues.
August 25th: Countdown to Homecoming begins
We, as in the entire committee decided to go ahead with planning Homecoming to take place between November 12 and November 18. The dates are ones I came up with upon learning the first home basketball game of the season will be on the 12th, and the Alumni Dinner Dance taking place on November 18, this way everyone can feel included. The Theme for Homecoming will be decided via vote by the students, and hopefully will pique the interest of students to becoming invested in the planning process. Planning for specific events such as The Concert and The Step Show is in full swing now. The weekly meetings every Friday are becoming more and more productive and we are finally getting things done. The framework for Homecoming is coming to shape, and hopefully the events will reflect how much hard work goes into them.
September 25th: Reaching out to others
There have been some snags along the line in making Homecoming as great as it can be, and a lot of the issues deal with money. I really do not want to exclude anyone from Homecoming, but it is a tad bit unfair that when you ask certain people for their help and funds for Homecoming they are uncooperative. As a student, I really do not want to deal with the politics, but I will say that sometimes excluding yourself from others does a disservice to you.
The Step Show is my personal project in the grand scheme of Homecoming, as wanted to see if I could really plan it. After submitting a contract and rules and regulations, I am just waiting on “The Powers That Be” to approve the contract so it may be sent to local step teams. Getting people from other schools to participate in an event on your campus is something that needs to be planned early, and we are really cutting it close. Regarding the concert, I tried to create a concert that would appease the wide demographic of UDC students, but would also entice people from other college campuses and residents of DC to want to attend. We are hoping to get Chrisette Michelle to headline our Homecoming Concert, along with 2-3 other artists, a complete show that will fit under our budget. The possibility of us getting her to perform is becoming closer to a reality, and the company we are working with is really being helpful throughout the entire process. In other news, The Co-Chairs of Homecoming are really the perfect people for this job. I am not always the most consistent person, but when everything finally comes in place, it is really going to be because of them.
October 30th: Less that A Month Away a.k.a. I Hate Soul Train
Homecoming is almost here, and to be honest, my excitement has waned a little bit. We finally received the contract approved to send out for the Step Show, but because of timing, some groups were not able to have a team represent them or have other important things going on. It is completely understood; just looking back on the time things could have been worked out. We were 24 hours away from having Chrisette Michelle headline UDC’s Homecoming. We received a call from the company we were working with on obtaining artists saying that the day we were sending out the contract to her, The Soul Train Music Awards called her to do a tribute performance the same day as our concert. We established a show regardless, but it was somewhat of a letdown for that to happen after being so close. Regardless of everything that has happened, I learned a lot from the process.
By the time anyone reads this, I hope everyone enjoyed “UDC Homecoming 2011. Firebird Nation: The Rise.”
