On Thursday, Sept. 24, SMU celebrated its 100th birthday during homecoming week by hosting a Centennial Picnic on the Dallas Hall Lawn at noon. The picnic, which was “State Fair” themed after the State Fair of Texas, aims to commemorate SMU’s rich Texas heritage with classic Texan carnival food, carnival games, and Big Tex himself.

Mimi Leasure, a member of the class of 1983 who graduated with a finance major from the Cox Business School and a music minor from the Meadows School of the Arts, describes her reaction not only to the Centennial Picnic, but to the entire celebration.

“I am so excited about celebrating 100 years of SMU,” says Leasure. “It has created a buzz amongst alumni and has given everyone a reason to reconnect.”

According to Leasure, the outpouring of alumni reconnecting on Facebook and other social media sites has been enormous, and alumni are reaching out to one another as they make plans to come to homecoming and other centennial events.

Senior Elliott Bouillon, who has served on the SMU Student Senate, is the founder of Not On My Campus, a nationwide sexual assault-prevention group, and an active member in the SMU community, is one of the many students who are excited about the event.

“Being a senior on 100th year of SMU’s opening is such a unique opportunity,” says Bouillon. “Through my four years, I’ve been able to see the school develop so much, all culminating at this event.”

Leasure continues to describe the ways that SMU has impacted her, not only in her college and academic careers, but in her whole life.

“The rich history and amazing changes and growth to SMU since I graduated is definitely something to be celebrated. It has even more meaning to me because my daughter now attends SMU and we can share it together. It is nice to revisit the memories from when I was there and share them with her.”

There are still more centennial celebration events to come. For a full schedule of events, vist http://www.smu.edu/Alumni/Homecoming/Events/FullSchedule