From Oct. 10 through 15, Bellevue College will be hosting its first Homecoming Week, a series of events to celebrate its 50th anniversary. With events and competitions such as Thriller Day and golf cart decorating, this week is dedicated to involving students, staff and faculty in events across campus. Each day will have different activities and programs for the BC community to participate in.
“We were trying to think about what we could do that would create unity,” said Director of Marketing Alonda Williams. When Williams first started as director in March 2016, she wanted to understand what the BC community was like. “When I first got here, I talked to a lot of people about how they felt being on campus and it felt like there were a lot of silos. Everyone kind of did their own thing,” explained Williams.”
“There wasn’t a sense of community on campus,” said Williams.
Nurturing a closer community is one of Williams’ main goals through Homecoming Week. In addition, the week’s events aim to elevate the awareness of, and affinity for, BC within the community, reinvigorate internal stakeholders with a sense of pride and enthusiasm for BC and establish programs that will benefit BC for years beyond this anniversary.
Within a few days of sending an email out to BC’s staff and faculty about the events, Williams was excited to see their interest and “healthy competition.”
Homecoming Week is a first for BC, with these events normally held and targeted at larger campuses. “Community colleges generally don’t have homecoming,” said Williams. “But we’re not a community college anymore.”
For Williams, everyone has some connection with BC. “Everyone has taken a class at Bellevue College at one point,” she remarked. “We wanted to find a way to bring everyone together and celebrate, but in a way that afterwards everybody felt closer. Everybody would feel a stronger pride in BC and they felt more connected to each other and the community.”
As a result, these events are not exclusive to the BC community. On Saturday, Oct. 15, Homecoming Week will come to an end with a final Homecoming Festival at BC’s main campus. From 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., the wider Bellevue community can participate with activities, food trucks, musical performances, beer gardens and vendors.