For some students, homecoming conjurs images of school spirit and camraderie.

But for Connie Justice, a senior in agricultural business management and 2006 Homecoming chair, this definition is barely the tip of the iceberg.

“On a broad spectrum, Homecoming is a celebration that bridges the gap between students and alumni and gives alumni a chance to come back and see how far the University has come since they left,” she said. “It also gives students a tradition that will still be here when they come back in the future after graduation.”

Theme

The 2006 Homecoming theme is “Send the Jackets PACKin” and the selection of the slogan, according to Justice, was a collective brainstorming process.

“We had Homecoming meetings back in the spring and the executive committee got together and I listed words related to N.C. State and Georgia Tech,” she said. “We split up into our subcommittees and they picked their top three [themes] and we wrote them on a board. We picked the top five out of the complete list and then we had an informal talk and voted on it.”

Kickoff

Justice noted that this year’s kickoff events included a new contest, pig cooking. This contest provided fun as well as food.

“This year we added a new component, the pig cooking competition, and it went really well. It was sponsored by the Fine Swine Society and we had over 500 pounds of pig out there on Sunday afternoon,” she said. “Students came at 4 p.m. and we had the Reality Show Band, who covers top-40 songs, play at the event.”

She also said that the Homecoming Committee gave out nearly 1,000 free T-shirts to students in addition to the free barbecue.

“Turnout was good and we fed over 1,200 people,” Justice said. “It was at least double of what we had last year in terms of feeding people.”

Justice noted that five student organizations, including the Fine Swine Society, Alpha Phi Omega, Inter-Residence Council, Delta Upsilon and the Senior Class Council, bought their own pigs and participated in the competition, which fed all attendees.

“Everybody who participated seemed to think this would be a really good tradition to have next year and down the road,” she said.

Wear Red, Get Fed

Wear Red, Get Fed is an event held in the Brickyard where students get free food for wearing red throughout the week. Today is the last day to capitalize on the free food starting at 11 a.m.

According to Justice, there has been a different vendor every day this week.

“Monday we had Melvin’s hot dogs and hamburgers, Tuesday was Papa John’s Pizza, Wednesday was wings and french-fries from Wing Zone, [Thursday] was hot dogs and chips from Harris Teeter and [today] is Krispy Kreme donuts,” she said.

She said that the event feeds nearly 1,000 students and costs $500 per day. The food for the giveaway is offered at a discount to the Homecoming Committee.

“We give [vendors] a written a request with an Alumni Association letterhead,” she said. “A lot of these businesses give us very good discounts because they can write off the difference on their taxes.”

She also indicated that Wear Red, Get Fed was highly successful this year, because the food went fast.

“It was really fun this year — Melvin’s started cooking at 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. and they kept wheeling [hamburgers] over in coolers and they kept coming and coming so we kept feeding,” she said.

Parade

This year’s Homecoming parade is slightly different than years past because it will be dark when all 66 entries make their way down Hillsborough Street.

Mark Clapp, a senior in textile engineering and publicity chair of Homecoming, said the lack of natural light will provide an added component to the parade.

“It is going to be dark at the parade, but I think that is going to add a whole new aspect,” he said. “We are encouraging floats to try to incorporate lights with parade design and we are bringing in lights to help illuminate Hillsborough Street.”

Justice said the parade starts at 6 p.m. and the Grand Marshall is alumnus General Hugh Shelton, the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

According to Justice, he and his wife will ride in the parade along with Chancellor James Oblinger, Lennie Barton, the executive director of the Alumni Association and Lee Fowler, the athletics director.

She said Stormy and the Storm Squad of the Carolina Hurricanes will be in the parade as well.

Pack Howl

Chris Daughtry, a former contestant on American Idol from Greensboro, will headline the Pack Howl concert and Saving Jane is the opening act.

According to Justice, the concert is in Reynolds Coliseum tonight and doors open at 7 p.m. The pep rally will start at 8 p.m. and the concert will begin at 9:15 p.m.

“[Daughtry] has an album coming out in two weeks and [tonight] will be his first concert ever and he is releasing all of his songs at our show,” she said. “[The other band] is Saving Jane and they had a hit this summer called the “Girl Next Door” so we are excited to have them too.”

She said Daughtry is a fan of the University.

“Chris Daughtry is a State fan and apparently he wore an N.C. State hat during American Idol,” she said.

She said the committee looked at nearly 100 bands since last spring and its first goal is to “bring somebody to campus that students want to see, hear and enjoy.”

The pep rally will feature many performing student groups and according to Justice, head football coach Chuck Amato will make an appearance.

Justice said Pack Howl can seat up to 5,000 people and the Homecoming Committee expects anywhere between 2,500 and 5,000 to attend.

The concert tickets are $10 and are buy one, get one free for students, $15 for Alumni Association members and $20 for nonstudents. Justice said tickets are available at the door.

Service

Homecoming doesn’t only focus on events to benefit students – it also focuses on helping the community.

“Service is huge — we have added three new events this year to the service component of the Homecoming celebration and they kicked off [Wednesday] night with a discussion on rape and sexual assault and [Thursday] we started our blood drive,” Justice said.

She emphasized the success of this year’s canned food drive, stating that students filled up the Farmhouse Fraternity truck by 10:30 a.m. yesterday morning and she estimated that the event brought in more than 11,000 cans of food.

Alumni

According to Brooklyn Winters, the director of special interest and campus programs for alumni affairs and one of the advisers to the Homecoming Committee, alumni are coming in from all over the nation for this weekend’s Homecoming festivities including the parade, Pack Howl and the football game Saturday evening.

“We encourage alums to come back for the parade and Pack Howl,” she said. “Pack Howl is focused toward young alums, 34 and under, and it is still becoming a tradition.”

She also said there will be many events for alumni to enjoy before the game.

“Saturday, we host tailgates for members of the Alumni Association and for special groups – there will be well over 1,000 people at tailgate on Saturday and the Embers will be playing at the Wolfpack Fan Zone.”

Winters said the Homecoming Committee set specific goals for the week and it has been successful in meeting those goals.

“[This year has] been terrific — every year since we have been working with Homecoming, this is the fifth, the Homecoming Committee has had the goal of making Homecoming bigger and better and I believe they have already met that goal especially with the kickoff and new spirit components.”

Clapp said this year’s Homecoming has exceeded the expectations of committee members.

“It has gone great so far — all the events have turned out to be great successes,” he said. “It has also surprised some of the committee — even bigger than some imagined.”