An event that occurs less than once a decade at Monmouth College will kick off a busy weekend of Homecoming activities on campus.
Dr. Patricia Draves will be inaugurated as Monmouth’s president on Oct. 4. She is the 15h president in the 171-year of the college.
Other Homecoming activities will include award ceremonies, a spirit shout, a parade, a football game and pre- and post-football game gatherings. Reunions will be held throughout the weekend for the classes of 1984, 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019.
The inauguration
The installation of Draves as president will be held at 2 p.m. on Wallace Hall Plaza. The theme of her inauguration is “Rooted in Legacy, Growing Our Future.” In addition to representatives from other U.S. colleges and universities, the ceremony will include 88 Monmouth College class representatives from the years 1941-2028.
The Bible to be used in the ceremony is the Biblia Sacra Polyglotta from the rare books collection in the college’s Hewes Library. It uses eight languages – Hebrew, Greek, Latin, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Printed in 1869, it was presented to Monmouth’s first president, the Rev. David Wallace, by members of the Monmouth College Class of 1875 on the occasion of their graduation from the college.
Other Oct. 4 events
The induction of Stan Pepper ’76 into the Hall of Achievement – the highest honor Monmouth College bestows upon its graduates – will be part of the Alumni Impact Awards ceremony, which will be held at 6 p.m. in Mellinger Commons in the Center for Science and Business.
A leading voice supporting innovation in the construction industry, Pepper is chairman and chief executive officer of The Pepper Cos. in Chicago, responsible for setting the strategic direction and overall resource management of the business. He is also on the executive committee of Monmouth’s board of trustees.
Others to be honored at the ceremony are activist and Food Tank president Danielle Nierenberg ’95, Distinguished Alumnus; board member and former Caterpillar executive Nancy Snowden ’74, Distinguished Service; 2011 classmates and spouses Trevor and Lauren Zak Newton, Distinguished Young Alumnus; and the Marshall/Kellogg/Peters/Witty family, Family of the Year. Business and economics professor Michael Connell will be presented with the Hatch Academic Excellence Award for Distinguished Teaching.
The Homecoming spirit shout will begin at 8 p.m. at April Zorn Memorial Stadium. The traditional celebration, which will feature competition by student organizations and the introduction of Homecoming royalty, will conclude with a fireworks display.
Oct. 5 events
The Saturday, Oct. 5, events will begin at 8:30 a.m. when three former Fighting Scot athletes will be inducted into the M Club Hall of Fame. The ceremony for standout pitcher/hitter Beau Hellman ’03, All-American thrower Allison Devor ’13 and award-winning soccer goalkeeper Samantha Barranco ’14 will be held in the Huff Athletic Center fieldhouse.
At 9 a.m., communication studies faculty member Chris Goble will be the featured speaker at the next installment of the college’s Great Lecture Series in Hewes Library. The title of his talk is “Why Superheroes? What We Can Learn from This Kid Stuff.”
Also at 9 a.m., the women’s tennis team will host Lake Forest College at the Monmouth College Tennis Stadium.
At 10 a.m., the ninth annual Fraternity and Sorority Life Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held in Mellinger Commons. Slated to receive acceptance into the Hall of Fame are Andrew Kerr ’73, Brian Holland ’76 and Kristen Wyse Wagner ’11.
The Homecoming parade along East Broadway, which this year has been extended to begin at Second Street before it passes campus, will start at 11:30 a.m. Sponsored by the Association for Student Activity Programming, it will include the Monmouth College Pipe Band and Fighting Scots Marching Band.
A cookout for faculty and alumni will be held from noon-2 p.m. on the east hilltop overlooking Zorn Stadium, and the Homecoming football game against defending Midwest Conference champion Illinois College will follow with a special kick-off time of 2 p.m.
An All-Monmouth Reunion Celebration will be held off campus from 5-8 p.m. at the American Legion, 1110 N. 11th St.
For the schedule of events: monmouthcollege.edu/homecoming
***Courtesy of Barry McNamara, Monmouth College***
