Alexandra de Leon
Staff Writer
Homecoming Week came to a close as the University of La Verne campus turned into the magical world of Hogwarts at the annual street fair and family weekend.
Faculty, alumni, students and families all took part in the festivities leading up to the Homecoming game against the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags.
“The theme brings everyone together: students, alumni and family, it’s a trifecta,” President Devorah Lieberman said.
Lieberman was happy with the amount of time and energy the students dedicated to the themed booths to make the Homecoming weekend successful.
“We wanted to make students feel like they’re stepping into the world of Harry Potter,” said sophomore business major and Campus Activities Board major events co-chairwoman Victoria Perez.
This was the first year the Associated Students of the University of La Verne chose Harry Potter as a theme, since many students are fans of the movies.
Characters roamed the crowd dressed as Ron Weasley, Harry Potter and Professor Severus Snape.
The street fair was separated into the four different houses of Harry Potter: Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.
Campus clubs and organizations participated in the street fair by decorating booths to correlate with the Harry Potter theme.
The booths and floats were evaluated for monetary prizes by a panel of alumni and members of the Board of Trustees based on uniqueness and creativity.
“The thing I like the most is when groups of students get together and really go out there and try something creative, even if it’s a little bit loony,” provost Jonathan Reed said. “I like nonstandard stuff, unique and pushing the edge.”
The winners of the booth, float contest and Homecoming king and queen were announced during the halftime show at the football game.
The women of the court were dressed in floor-length formal dresses and the men wore suits while they walked down the football field to the theme song of Harry Potter, all lining up alongside a Goblet of Fire.
La Verne’s mascot, Leo, donned a beard and impersonated Albus Dumbledore while he pulled out two papers from the goblet.
The names of Homecoming king and queen were pulled from the Goblet of Fire during the halftime show.
Senior liberal arts major Travis Sparks-Jackson and senior speech communications major Bradlee Johnson were crowned.
The winners of the float competition were the Japan Daisuki club, which also won the best booth for the Slytherin house. The First Generation Club won the Hufflepuff booth, Phi Delta Theta fraternity won the Ravenclaw booth and Iota Delta sorority rounded off the winners with the best representation of Gryffindor.
Senior business major and member of Phi Delta Theta George Cuarenta was in charge of decorating the award-winning Ravenclaw booth.
His mentality when decorating and planning for the street fair was to associate his fraternity’s principles with those of Ravenclaw.
“Our colors, blue and white, are somewhat similar and some of our cardinal principles like intelligence, creativity, innovation, wisdom are similar, which all ties in to what we stand for and who we are as a chapter,” Cuarenta said.
Several alumni, like 1998 graduate and Board of Trustees member Wendy Lau, loved that Homecoming united students and alumni.
“It’s like Christmas, you get to see everyone that you haven’t seen in forever,” Lau said. “Whether it’s people you went to school with, people in school, professors, everybody, so it’s fun to come back.”
Many students, alumni and faculty enjoyed Homecoming Weekend, including ULV’s president.
“I wait 364 days for this day, for this street fair, so being here being with these students, seeing the best of the University of La Verne, that’s my heart,” Lieberman said. “That’s what I am here to experience.”
Alumni had a full day of activities available to them for the day.
The 5k Community Fun Run that started in Sneaky Park at 8 a.m.
In the morning, alumni also were provided a Homecoming Welcome Breakfast in Hanawalt House.
On C Street, a Leopard Picnic was held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Foods like chicken, potato salad, Homecoming sugar cookies and drinks were provided.
Also, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., alumni, students and family tailgated in parking Lot A next to Mainiero Hall.
The Leopards won their football game 32-27.
Alexandra de Leon can be reached at alexandra.deleon@laverne.edu.
