Ladies and Gentlemen, its Homecoming week. Members of Greek organizations are very aware of Homecoming’s presence, as float building and pomping has taken over the parking garage on SMU Blvd, across from Expressway Towers.
The women of SMU’s PanHellenic community have been pomping since Monday. Most enjoy it and look forward to Homecoming week all year long.
Junior Andrea Champlain and member of Chi Omega enjoys float building and sees it as way to bond with the girls in her own chapter and get to know the fraternity men they are partnered with.
“It’s a great way to bond with everyone and be involved in Homecoming,” said Champlain.
Lise Anderson is a member of Delta Gamma who also thinks float building is a time to bond with her sorority sisters, but the cold weather does put a damper on the fun.
“I honestly love it. It’s a great time to get to know members of your organization better and you feel awesome when it’s done because you helped make it! It would be better without this cold weather though.” Anderson said.
The Gents, on the other hand have mixed reviews on the float building process.
These men strap on their tool belts and plug in their power tools to build the floats for the women to decorate. They get the chance to show off their skills in construction and engineering.
Junior Pi Kappa Alpha, Jay Miller, finds float building to be a positive experience that brings members of different organizations together.
“Float building is a chance for Greeks and other organizations to come together to unveil their skills and creativity,” said Miller. “It’s a great way to meet new people and work with them towards a common goal.”
Other builders don’t see the purpose of the experience.
Daniel Garcia, SMU junior and member of Lambda Chi Alpha, believes the organizations working on the floats could be using the time to do other things.
“I think it’s an enormous strain on a student organization’s time and resources that could and should be spent on things the organizations are meant for,” said Garcia.
Whether they like it or not, these organizations will continue building until Friday, and the floats will be displayed in the Homecoming parade Saturday afternoon.
