As Homecoming approaches, months of hard work and organization are finally coming to fruition. For many of the people involved, however, this means much work with little recognition.

“”There is an insane amount of people that work tirelessly to make sure that Homecoming goes over without a flaw,”” said Tommy Bruce, president of ASUA. “”We [ASUA] are only involved in some aspects of homecoming, but I can tell you there are many people who have put in lots and lots of work.””

Homecoming is orchestrated by many groups, including ASUA and the senior honorary Bobcats, but is funded and organized primarily by the Alumni Association. According to Bruce, Homecoming is an alumni-sponsored event in which the student government only helps in organization and execution for certain events, but is not responsible for the majority of events.

“”Homecoming is its own beast,”” Bruce said. “”It is an all-hands-on-deck event across the university. Everyone is doing their own activities: the Alumni Association, Bobcats and ASUA. But everyone that is a part of it deserves some mention.””

The events that ASUA does organize for Homecoming are the realignment and lighting of the “”A”” on A-mountain, BearDown Friday and the prep rally Friday evening. For ASUA this means many members have been involved in the process from as early as last spring to ensure that the events are safe and well-managed, but that many people will put in work that will go unrecognized to most of the students and participants in this year’s Homecoming.

“”It is impossible to name all the people involved that make Homecoming a success, because there are so many of them,”” said Jessica Anderson, executive vice president of ASUA. “”We should recognize everyone, the ones you hear about, and the ones you don’t, because every person in ASUA is involved in Homecoming 100 percent.””

According to Anderson, Homecoming is most often the largest event that ASUA will work toward, sometimes working all year. This year’s Homecoming has been no exception. Work on Homecoming began last spring and work for next year’s Homecoming will probably begin the week after next, said Anderson.

Though both Bruce and Anderson claimed there were too many participants involved from ASUA to name, they both agreed that staff members and advisors were among the most helpful to the ASUA organization.

“”A lot of credit can go to the advisors on staff at ASUA,”” Anderson said. “”Those are the ones that are responsible for the aspects of Homecoming that maybe aren’t as glamorous, but are very important, like waivers and liabilities.””

Bruce agreed, saying, “”Without advisors many of the things we will be doing this Saturday, would not have been possible.””

This Saturday, the work of all ASUA members, alumni, and honorary Bobcats will be put to the test. Many of them will receive credit for their work, but many will not.