DeKALB– NIU is kicking off its 118th Homecoming, the oldest in Illinois, with a week of fun for staff, students and the community.
Homecoming began at NIU in 1903, when students challenged alumni to a football game called “The Eventful Game.” By 1906, The Northern Star called it “Homecoming” to describe the weekend filled with activities.
Chief Strategy Officer and Homecoming organizer Matt Streb shared that Monday through Friday will have a full schedule of events.
“We had this 118th Homecoming, and we have the longest-running homecoming in the state of Illinois, so we have a week-long schedule of events planned, some of which are more student-focused, some of which are more alumni-focused, some of which are for all of our community,” Streb said.
Over time, NIU’s Homecoming has evolved. For several years, the Homecoming Parade was cancelled due to a lack of student interest. Instead, the parade was replaced with a student march.
“Several years ago, our students told us that they weren’t interested in doing a parade, and so we didn’t go forward with the parade after a while. There are several years where that was canceled,” Streb said.
Streb mentioned this marks the fourth year in a row the March of the Huskies in downtown DeKalb will be held in place of a parade.
“We call it the march. It’s not a full-fledged parade, although the march will be a little bit longer this year than it was in previous years, but it really was an opportunity for us to get together, to listen to our students, to listen to our alumni, to listen to our community members and our employees, and see what they wanted in Homecoming,” Streb said.
Other events have also become part of a tradition for homecoming, such as the Paint, Pizza and Sip event.
“It’s a very laid-back event. It’s a chance for people to get together, have some pizza, drink some wine and just get a chance to show their Huskie pride. We usually get between 30 and 40 people at the event. We want to make sure there are things for people to do when they come back for Homecoming,” Streb said.
New traditions continue to be added, such as the Smore’s N’More event that is open to the DeKalb community.
“Unlike the downtown event, Smore’s N’More is on our campus in the MLK Commons. We’ll have a variety of games and inflatables and the ability to do s’mores,” Streb said.
The goal of NIU’s Homecoming is not just for students to have a good time celebrating NIU; it also serves as a way for students and alumni to get to know one another.
“Last year was the first year we did it, and we had students interacting with alumni. Our alumni love hearing about what our current students experience at NIU. It’s so much fun to see them interact and talk about similar experiences that an alum had 30 years ago that our current students are going through,” Streb said.
Community involvement is central to the celebration. Local businesses in DeKalb and Sycamore now take part through various discounts.
“Local businesses have also become very engaged in Homecoming,” Streb said. “We have what we call homecoming hosts, and so you’ll see just about all of our downtown businesses and many other businesses in the city of DeKalb, and even in some cases, Sycamore, have Homecoming specials. So if you come in and you’re wearing your Huskie gear, you might get 20% off your bill at a restaurant.”
Many NIU Homecoming events would not be possible without the support of the DeKalb community.
“Our community is a very big part of celebrating Homecoming. We have a very strong downtown relationship here. That’s not always the case in a lot of college towns. The university and our city work well together, and I think especially that downtown event is a really good example of that,” Streb said.
The goal of NIU’s Homecoming is that there is something for everyone, not just football.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to express our Huskie pride and to come together as a community. We want homecoming to be for everyone. We want there to be something that everybody can do,” Streb said.
