After a week of festivities centered around students, alumni will make their way back to Abilene this weekend for homecoming, with the theme “Traditions.”

The weekend will feature regular homecoming events such as the parade, tailgating, the homecoming musical and the football game, where the Wildcats will face off against West Georgia.

Friday

• Homecoming Kickoff 11:30 a.m. at the Campus Mall
• Carnival 5 p.m. at Hardin Administration Lawn
• Candlelight Devotional 7:45 p.m. at Hardin Administration steps
• Fiddler on the Roof 8 p.m. at Boone Family Theatre
• Midnight Worship 11 p.m. at Moody Coliseum

Saturday

• Parade 10 a.m. E N 10th Street
• Chapel 11:15 a.m. Moody Coliseum
• Tailgate 1 p.m. Wildcat Stadium
• Football v. West Georgia 3 p.m. Wildcat Stadium
• Fiddler on the Roof 8 p.m. Boone Family Theatre
• Backgrounds concert 8 p.m. Hunter Welcome Center South Lawn

Sunday

• Soccer vs. Little Rock 1 p.m. Elmer Gray Stadium
• Fiddler on the Roof 2 p.m. Boone Family Theatre
• Choir Concert 2:30 p.m. Williams Performing Arts Center

Riley Cranford, university and alumni relations officer, said that the “Traditions” theme influenced every area of homecoming, from the parade, where all of the floats will mirror an ACU tradition, to the musical, which is Fiddler on the Roof.

One new addition to the weekend is the Wildcat Trail around campus, which is a scavenger hunt to allow families to look around campus.

“It’s kind of just to get families around campus to see what all our students have available to them,” Cranford said. “They’ll get little ACU buckets, and people will kind of give them some candy to incorporate Halloween.”

One of the stops on the Wildcat Trail is Jacob’s Dream, which was built 20 years ago. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the statue, Jack Maxwell, who designed it, will serve as the grand marshal of the parade alongside his wife Jill.

There will also be a small museum for the statue in the Teague Special Events Center.

One of the biggest aspects of homecoming is the court, made up of eight leaders from student organizations and clubs on campus.

This year’s court is:

• Claudia Amato, Hispanic Student Association
• Ella Beeman, Letters of Love
• Faith Dowell, Society of Women Engineers
• Laura Hill, Tri Kappa Gamma
• Ava Houston, GATA
• Laci Lightfoot, Midnight Worship
• Haylee Newman, Delta Theta
• Sarah Schulze, Sigma Theta Chi
• Isabella Sloan, Ko Jo Kai
• Alexis Tuyo, Chemistry Club

Makayla Kerrigan, assistant director of alumni and university relations, said that to keep the Homecoming Queen from simply being nominated based on popularity, those nominated to be on the court are required to submit an application where they explain what it means to be a Wildcat and how they would beautify part of campus. Their application is then sent to around 30 faculty members, who anonymously vote on their favorite answers and the nominees are then chosen to be on the court.

“I think that that really empowers the women that are on the court more than a popularity contest,” Kerrigan said. 

From there, the student body votes for who they think should be queen, and the winner is announced at halftime during Saturday’s football game.

Athena Crum, university and alumni relations officer, said she hopes that alumni have fun while celebrating traditions from their time on campus.

“I hope they just come back and feel that nostalgia and that sense of connection to the university,” Crum said. “ACU is so special. So I think coming back and remembering those traditions and those memories that they have will be really impactful.”