Homecoming events to welcome alumni, engage students
Alumni will take over the student radio station, WMHW-FM 91.5, all Homecoming weekend for 48 hours from midnight Friday until midnight Saturday.
Brianne Tucker is an alumna who recently graduated. She that will be on the air for the 16th annual Alumni Takeover this weekend.
"I'm not one of those people who wishes they were still a college student. I like my life now," Tucker said. "But I like getting back and experiencing the energy of a college campus that doesn't really exist anywhere else."
Tucker graduated with a degree from the school of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts in 2004.
She said she is looking forward to taking part in Homecoming by working with CMU's radio station and talking to broadcast students during informational sessions on Friday at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. in Moore Hall, where students can ask questions about working in the industry.
"We changed the format of the sessions from the panel we had last year to make it more one-on-one with students," she said.
Audio labs manager for the school of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts, Chad Roberts, said he encourages students to be there because it is their best chance to get advice from people who have worked first-hand in the industry.
"It's popular. We have a lot of listeners talk about it, and we like it because it gives the alumni a chance to come back and talk about their times at CMU," Roberts said. "It's good for the students to see the alumni that are in the business. It gives students a chance to see that being successful in this industry can be done."
Alumni usually fill air time by interviewing CMU administrators like President Ross, the head football coach and heads of academic colleges. Hosts reminisce on air in between playing music from when they were at CMU.
"This is only my sixth year here," Roberts said. "I get to find out what things were like at CMU before I arrived, so I find it interesting and I know they enjoy having that fun again of sort of feeling like they're in college again."
CMU alumni and professor in the college of Broadcast and Cinematic arts Kevin Campbell will host a shift 5 a.m. on Saturday morning.
"It's a lot of fun. "We get together once a year with many of our colleagues in the industry," Campbell said. "It's an opportunity to spend time with the students so they can get advice on their careers and build their professional network."
Campbell said everyone who participates donates money to a scholarship given out in the spring to a new student coming into the broadcast program, either a transfer or freshman.
"It's something to help them continue on with their education, and we've been doing the scholarship for seven years," Campbell said.
There will also be a live remote broadcast in the Alumni Village that will be part of the radio takeover.
Central Michigan University alumni have the opportunity to attend the free Alumni Village celebration near Rose Ponds from noon-3 p.m. on Saturday before the Homecoming football game.
Alumni can visit with friends, former classmates and professors and enjoy food before the game.
The Cardboard Boat Race will also be held near Rose Ponds. Engineering students have worked on building cardboard boats for two weeks, and on Saturday at 1 p.m., they will have a race across the pond.
Other alumni homecoming events include the WMHW-FM 91.5 Alumni Takeover, where alumni will take over the station for 24 hours, a 50 Year Reunion for people who graduated in 1960-1965, Alumni Coffee and Donuts in Powers Hall and Back on Yard Homecoming 2015, which is presented by NPHC and the CMU African American Alumni Chapter.
