00:00:00:37 - 00:00:32:18 Geoff Mearns This year, Ball State University will celebrate our 100th annual homecoming. This tradition brings graduates back to our beautiful campus to participate in events planned by our current students. It's a grand celebration of school spirit and community pride, and that's why I look forward to recognizing a century of cardinal pride next month. I'm Geoff Mearns, the president of Ball State, and this is Cardinal Compass: Campus and Community Conversations. 00:00:32:22 - 00:00:43:24 Announcer From the campus of Ball State University on Ball State, PBS and Indiana Public Radio. This is Cardinal Compass campus and community conversations. 00:00:43:29 - 00:01:10:42 Announcer At Ball State University. Our promise is simple to empower the success of our students. Our students benefit from immersive learning, innovative academic programs, and state of the art facilities. Ball state offers a distinctive yet affordable educational experience and the ideal environment to prepare for a fulfilling career and a meaningful life. We inspire cardinals to transform their communities, to revolutionize their industries, and to make a difference. 00:01:10:44 - 00:01:13:50 Announcer We fly. Are you ready to fly? 00:01:13:55 - 00:01:16:52 Kahmara Munn Hello, and welcome to Cardinal Compass. I'm Kahmara Munn. 00:01:16:57 - 00:01:18:09 Blake Maurath And I'm Blake Maurath. 00:01:18:09 - 00:01:24:47 Kahmara Munn From crowning royalty to bed races, the 100 years of Ball State homecoming has been deeply rooted in traditions. 00:01:24:47 - 00:01:37:21 Blake Maurath Cameron Noe takes us back in time to look at the history behind Ball State homecoming. 00:01:37:26 - 00:02:03:29 Unknown For one week each fall, Ball State becomes a meeting place for students alumni in the Muncie community. But the story of how that came to be starts long before today. Jean Crosby grew up in Muncie and now leads the Ball State Foundation. To her, it is always been home. Ball state felt like Muncie. There really wasn't a divide between, in my opinion, between the community and the university. 00:02:03:29 - 00:02:09:34 Unknown They always felt one. From air jam to bed races to the parade. 00:02:09:39 - 00:02:36:15 Unknown Community has always been at the forefront of homecoming. I hope it's a sense of pride. I hope it's a sense of and a reminder of what we can all do when we come together. Liz Wegner, a teacher at Clay Middle School in Carmel, was Ball State's homecoming queen in 2000, the longest standing tradition, especially now. I think the importance of community is is really, really super underrated in these days, and yet it's so powerful. 00:02:36:20 - 00:02:59:26 Unknown Wegner recognizes that in order to know the future, looking back is important. I feel like that's part of homecoming, too. It's connecting the old and the new and seeing what the future could be too. For generations, Ball State has given Cardinals a reason to come home in 100 homecomings later. Those traditions continue to bring people together. We come with a sense of grit, passion for who we are. 00:02:59:31 - 00:03:20:03 Unknown The character of our people are represented in our activities. Crosby says that homecoming up all state is different for most universities because of the traditions. It bridges the gap between the community and the university while remembering what it means to be a cardinal. Because here, being a cardinal isn't just about the university, it's about the village that surrounds it. 00:03:20:08 - 00:03:46:19 Unknown We are better together, right? That we should all be working together for fun, right? To provide joy to our community, to remind ourselves of the pride we should all feel and what we can accomplish together. The heart of homecoming is not just celebrating where cardinals come from, but the community they come home to. Cameron. No. Cardinal. Compass. 00:03:46:24 - 00:03:53:33 Kahmara Munn Joining us now is Ashlee Anderson, senior director of student and young alumni engagement. Thank you for being here with us today, Ashlee. 00:03:53:38 - 00:03:55:09 Ashlee Anderson Thanks for having me. 00:03:55:14 - 00:04:02:13 Blake Maurath Ashley, being the director of student and young alumni engagement, what efforts are you making to reach out to alumni for the 100th homecoming? 00:04:02:16 - 00:04:06:32 Ashlee Anderson Yeah, because this is the 100th homecoming, and it's very special to us. 00:04:06:37 - 00:04:29:21 Ashlee Anderson We're celebrating decades of Ball State tradition and history. So we're trying to be very strategic this year, reaching out to a lot of our already engaged alumni and alumni--that really strong kind of groups that they were associated with when they were here on campus, and also reaching out to some that we may not have heard from-- from a while. 00:04:29:33 - 00:04:58:00 Ashlee Anderson If you can imagine, we have Ball State has over 220,000 living alumni. So it's near impossible to connect with every single person. But we really do our best to connect alumni back to campus, back to the university and the things that they were passionate about while they were here, and maybe that they've grown to become passionate about. So focusing in on those groups, we have more than 20 different alumni groups coming back this year, so it's really great and we're excited about that. 00:04:58:03 - 00:05:15:21 Geoff Mearns Yeah, and those affinity groups that actually is talking about, whether it's a sports team or whether it's a fraternity or sorority, or whether it's SGA, you know, those affinity groups, they--their connection to the university is often through that group of students that they participated in a in a club or an organization with. 00:05:15:31 - 00:05:19:47 Kahmara Munn Yeah, absolutely. So we have a lot of alumni here at Ball State, don't we? 00:05:19:49 - 00:05:24:28 Kahmara Munn So could you tell me the importance of having alumni being involved in homecoming? 00:05:24:30 - 00:05:37:22 Ashlee Anderson Right. Bringing alumni back to campus or whether they're--they're already here? Like you said, we have a lot of alumni that work here at Ball State that live in the Muncie community. It's kind of rekindling that connection that they had when they were students here. 00:05:37:22 - 00:06:04:47 Ashlee Anderson It's reconnecting them to the people in the places that really shaped their--their path, their experience while they were here at Ball State. I think another really exciting thing about bringing alumni back for homecoming is connecting them with the current students, and for current students to really be able to see that they can become something bigger than where they are right now, that the Cardinal community is spread all across the nation, all across the world, and they are part of that as well. 00:06:04:50 - 00:06:23:36 Geoff Mearns Yeah. So sometimes when they come back, there are places that they recall that are no longer here, like the LaFollette Complex. But as Ashlee was saying, is when our alumni come back to campus and they meet with students, they can see themselves, they recall their own experience, and then it's beneficial to the students because they can see what they can become after they graduate. 00:06:23:36 - 00:06:25:50 Geoff Mearns So it's really mutual connection that way. 00:06:25:53 - 00:06:27:31 Kahmara Munn Yes. Like home sweet home, right? 00:06:27:33 - 00:06:28:33 Ashlee Anderson Absolutely. 00:06:28:38 - 00:06:38:45 Blake Maurath Yeah, the more things change, the more they stay the same. That's what they always say. And what will be different about this year's homecoming, with it being the 100th in particular? What's different this year? 00:06:38:47 - 00:06:41:24 Ashlee Anderson Yeah. Talking a little bit about those groups that are coming back. 00:06:41:25 - 00:07:08:00 Ashlee Anderson We were making a very strategic effort to really bring more people back to campus. For example, some past Charlie Cardinals. We're inviting them back to walk in the parade and join us. Also past homecoming steering committees, past orientation leaders. So we're really hoping that they get to reconnect and kind of experience some of the things that they did when they were here on campus. 00:07:08:00 - 00:07:17:50 Ashlee Anderson So not only are reunion groups were adding a pep rally midweek for some of the students in the community that are already here getting ready. So we're very excited. 00:07:18:04 - 00:07:30:46 Kahmara Munn Yes. So we're celebrating a full century of homecoming, right. And as President Mearns just said, things have changed on campus, and I'm assuming things have changed with homecoming. So could you tell me how things have evolved over the past years with homecoming? 00:07:30:50 - 00:08:09:18 Ashlee Anderson Right. I mean, you can imagine 100 years ago to now things have evolved a lot. And what I've noticed is that homecoming activities and events are really a reflection of what's going on around us. Whether that's society, what's happening on campus. Well, pop culture is we've had everything from famous acts and performances here on campus to some of our events that have evolved, some of our two popular events that we have during campus: air jam and bed race, that only started in the 80s, if you think about the first homecoming in 1926, took years to get there, but now they're loved traditions. 00:08:09:23 - 00:08:31:09 Ashlee Anderson One other thing I think is interesting: the homecoming Queen. The first homecoming queen was nominated and chosen in 1938, and it wasn't until ‘71 that women actually were able to vote for the Queen. And then later then we added the king. So that just kind of shows the evolution of some of the events that have happened during homecoming week. 00:08:31:12 - 00:08:34:43 Ashlee Anderson In addition to really bringing, focusing and bringing alumni home. 00:08:34:45 - 00:08:40:23 Blake Maurath Yes. How extensive is the planning process for the 100th kind of juggling the old and the new? 00:08:40:25 - 00:08:52:54 Ashlee Anderson Yeah. Homecoming planning takes, really. I mean, it's all year. We don't stop planning. There are certain times of year where the planning might be a little bit slower and like, we're less than six weeks out. 00:08:52:54 - 00:09:14:16 Ashlee Anderson I think we're close to five weeks now. So we're really in the trenches of it. It's ongoing, it's juggling, it's making sure everything's into place. There are a lot of different elements that make that week and especially that Saturday, happen, and it takes a lot of people to do that. So a full year, our students get involved back in the spring, so about nine months for them. 00:09:14:16 - 00:09:16:09 Ashlee Anderson But yeah, it really never stops. 00:09:16:14 - 00:09:27:42 Kahmara Munn Yes. This is an extensive process. And you just explained that you're basically in the trenches process of it. So have you experienced--or what challenges have you encountered during the homecoming planning phase? 00:09:27:47 - 00:09:38:20 Ashlee Anderson There are a lot of details, especially when you get really close. So there's always the, you know, crossing all the T’s, dotting your eyes to make sure that you're not missing anything. 00:09:38:29 - 00:09:56:04 Ashlee Anderson I don't think that ever gets easier. It's just an ongoing process. And and you do what you can. This year, one of-- we're trying something new with our midweek food truck festival in the pep rally. We're at a different location on campus. We're at the Alan Hargrave Lawn, which is where the LaFollette Memorial stands. So that's different. 00:09:56:04 - 00:10:10:22 Ashlee Anderson We've never had an event there before. So I think the logistics and the planning, you know, when you do something, you always learn from it. So I'm sure there will be things that we learned this year. But I also have no doubt that it's going to be a lot of fun in a success. 00:10:10:25 - 00:10:14:05 Kahmara Munn Yes, absolutely. I'm sure students in alumni are looking forward to that event there. 00:10:14:08 - 00:10:14:44 Kahmara Munn Yes. 00:10:14:46 - 00:10:21:48 Blake Maurath Yeah. What is it that keeps you motivated in planning for homecoming, particularly at this point in the process where you're starting to get into the nitty gritty of it? 00:10:21:51 - 00:10:37:02 Ashlee Anderson Yeah, it's the outcome. I mean, the-- we go through a full week of events beginning October 19th, and we culminate on the 24th. We start with the homecoming parade and then our reunion road, Charlie Town and ultimately the game. 00:10:37:04 - 00:11:01:43 Ashlee Anderson Right. The football game. And when you are preparing for the parade and you see all of these community members come out and they get to experience cardinal pride in the spirit of Ball State, all through the streets of downtown Muncie, all the way to campus. It's really creating those experiences that provide the greatest impact, that type of meaningful impact that really keeps me going. 00:11:01:46 - 00:11:25:18 Geoff Mearns Yeah. And so since I've been in the parade nine years now, one of the things that impressed me most and continues to impress me is something Ashley just said is how the parade in particular as well as the game, brings people from the community together. So if you've ever walked the whole route, you'll see before you even get close to campus, thousands of people who are from the community out to celebrate homecoming with us. 00:11:25:18 - 00:11:29:54 Geoff Mearns It's really the connection between-- between the community and our campus. 00:11:30:06 - 00:11:41:55 Kahmara Munn Yes, and this is an extensive process. As we already said, there's a lot of preparation, a lot of planning and determination. So you have to find enjoyment in what you do, right? Because you tell me, what are some of your favorite parts of homecoming? 00:11:41:58 - 00:11:45:43 Ashlee Anderson Yeah, probably my top thing, I guess, 00:11:45:46 - 00:12:06:04 Ashlee Anderson favorite thing is really working with the homecoming steering committee, the group of students that we choose every year to take part in this planning process. They have a lot of responsibility when it comes to the student engagement activities, and getting to know those students and watching them grow and develop throughout the process is very-- it's very exciting to see and just getting to do that. 00:12:06:04 - 00:12:23:00 Ashlee Anderson But then again, accomplishing, seeing everything that happened at the end and how we can create an experience for so many people around us, for the Ball State community, for the Muncie community, and all of our alumni that come back into town-- in town to visit. 00:12:23:05 - 00:12:28:14 Blake Maurath And I think that's just kind of pretty much do it for us here right now. 00:12:28:14 - 00:12:30:43 Blake Maurath So thank you so much for joining us, Ashlee. 00:12:30:48 - 00:12:40:18 Kahmara Munn Yes, thank you so much for joining us, Ashlee. The Ball State homecoming requires hard work from several students to organize and plan events across campus and the community. 00:12:40:23 - 00:12:48:54 Blake Maurath Amelia Winter pulls back the curtain to show us a behind the scenes look at building a successful homecoming. 00:12:48:59 - 00:12:54:56 Amelia Winter Kenneth Jennings may look like your typical Ball State student, but once the clock hits three. 00:12:54:59 - 00:12:57:16 Kenneth Jennings He's going to put together a couple of different ideas. 00:12:57:18 - 00:13:06:48 Amelia Winter His day takes a different turn. He treats the classroom for meetings, working behind the scenes to help bring Ball State's 100th homecoming to life. 00:13:06:51 - 00:13:17:21 Kenneth Jennings I want to make it very Muncie focus, very Ball State focused, and we want to just kind of show what Ball State has to offer and what Muncie has to offer, especially with the Food Truck Festival and the Bed race. 00:13:17:26 - 00:13:23:04 Amelia Winter Jennings works alongside his co-chair, Amy Martinez, to plan this year's events. 00:13:23:14 - 00:13:37:22 Amy Martinez It has been a huge help. We we are in charge of like four events, so having someone there to also like, share, like the amount of work is for sure a blessing. 00:13:37:25 - 00:13:48:48 Amelia Winter It's Jennings and Martinez's first year on the board. Every Monday, they join the entire steering committee to go over progress. 00:13:48:53 - 00:14:02:02 Amelia Winter The team is made up of current students that visors Ashley Anderson and Shawn Carmichael helping guide the process. And for the students on the committee, it's a chance to help make this milestone year one of a kind. 00:14:02:04 - 00:14:13:01 Shawn Carmichael Think they're a very high performing group of students. I feel like this group, though, has really come together probably quicker than most. 00:14:13:04 - 00:14:18:37 Amelia Winter But for Carmichael, the work goes beyond planning events. It's about community outreach. 00:14:18:39 - 00:14:40:31 Shawn Carmichael We do measure a lot of outcomes with what makes a successful homecoming, but to me, at the end of the day, it's really about that. It should be a fun experience for the students every year. It should be fun for the alumni that come back and engage with homecoming, but it should also be fun for these these students that are working really hard to put this together. 00:14:40:33 - 00:14:44:47 Amelia Winter Kenneth Jennings wants to be a part of. 00:14:44:59 - 00:15:00:10 Kenneth Jennings I went to homecoming and I went to Air Jam and the Food Truck Festival Bad Race. I really saw that, you know, it's not just the collection of about the students, but it's more so just everybody together. And that's what I really liked about it. 00:15:00:13 - 00:15:10:58 Amelia Winter For James and the committee, the work continues behind the scenes, and they're excited to see the Ball State community come home for homecoming. 00:15:11:02 - 00:15:17:01 Amelia Winter In Muncie, Amelia. Winter Carnival. Compass. 00:15:17:06 - 00:15:26:22 Blake Maurath Joining us now is Caden Kata, chair of the Ball State homecoming steering committee. And Jillian Brita, parade coordinator of the Ball State homecoming steering committee. Thanks for so much for joining us, guys. 00:15:26:25 - 00:15:27:03 Jillian Brita Thanks for having us. 00:15:27:06 - 00:15:27:51 Caden Kata Thanks for having us. 00:15:27:56 - 00:15:34:05 Kahmara Munn So, Caden, tell me a little bit about your responsibilities as a general chair and someone who specializes in the parade. 00:15:34:10 - 00:15:49:40 Caden Kata Yeah, absolutely. So as terms of the general chair, I get to work with our entire committee. I think we've got about ten of us. So kind of helping them as-- as it goes. They each have individual tasks to of course, Jillian has the parade. So helping her with the parade, helping our chairs with Air Jam and all the different special events. 00:15:49:40 - 00:15:57:06 Caden Kata So a lot of it's really just helping them how I can I help lead our meetings as well and kind of serve in that role. 00:15:57:11 - 00:15:58:04 Ashlee Anderson Absolutely. 00:15:58:06 - 00:16:01:32 Blake Maurath And Jillian, tell us about your role being the specialist in the parade. 00:16:01:35 - 00:16:14:31 Jillian Brita Yeah. My responsibilities basically consist of planning and organizing all the details that lead up to the day to make sure it runs smoothly and informing everyone involved, whether that's someone in the parade, volunteers, even the committee, just to ensure that everyone has all the information they need. 00:16:14:31 - 00:16:16:55 Jillian Brita So in the day arrives. It runs as smoothly as possible. 00:16:17:07 - 00:16:19:12 Ashlee Anderson Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much. 00:16:19:15 - 00:16:23:31 Blake Maurath And, what does a typical week this time of year look like for you guys? 00:16:23:31 - 00:16:36:16 Jillian Brita Well, now that we're in the homestretch, it's definitely a lot busier. This is the time where all parade applications come in. I've just been going through those finalizing their spots, and just making sure that everyone has all the information they need 00:16:36:21 - 00:16:41:42 Kahmara Munn Yes, in as full time students and, also full time homecoming Steering Committee members. 00:16:41:54 - 00:16:45:54 Kahmara Munn Tell me about how rewarding it is to see your work come to life. 00:16:45:58 - 00:17:00:29 Caden Kata Yeah, I mean, it's very rewarding. I think it's the most rewarding thing I've been able to be a part of in my life. I've always been a big fan of homecoming, and being a part of the community, so it's incredibly rewarding to be able to work hard on the back end and plan something incredible for students, faculty, staff, alumni. 00:17:00:31 - 00:17:06:14 Caden Kata The community, it's-- it's really just great to see it come to life when homecoming starts. 00:17:06:19 - 00:17:20:08 Jillian Brita Yeah, it's very fulfilling. I feel like now that we're seeing everything start working and flowing well, it's like very satisfying. And even the week of when we see everything, we put so much hard work into this for months. So to see it finally play out would be really-- really proud moment. 00:17:20:08 - 00:17:29:17 Jillian Brita And then even for me, I grew up with a parade in my hometown. I always loved going to. So being in this position to have people feel the same way I did, it's like a full circle moment for me. 00:17:29:29 - 00:17:34:49 Kahmara Munn It's super cool. And, President Mearns, what are your thoughts? You know, seeing the students work come to life as well? 00:17:34:51 - 00:17:53:21 Geoff Mearns Well, it's such a great testament to their diligence, and their dedication to the university, and to the community, because I know they literally are planning all year round for a week of events and some of the events that they can plan because they're inside. But some of the events can be a little unpredictable because they have to have rain plans as well. 00:17:53:23 - 00:18:08:13 Geoff Mearns So they have to be flexible and adaptable. But the way in which they engage the broader campus community are more than 200,000 alumni, and how we engage the community in those celebrations is just so impressive. And I'm just so proud of the work that they do. 00:18:08:17 - 00:18:15:34 Blake Maurath That's got to be great to hear from President Mearns, I'm sure. The only thing that I'm hoping for, Jillian, is that you get good weather once again. 00:18:15:36 - 00:18:16:27 Jillian Brita I know 00:18:16:31 - 00:18:22:29 Geoff Mearns This will be my 10th parade and I don't think it's rained once. I probably should not have just said, 00:18:22:33 - 00:18:24:21 Jillian Brita hopefully I don't kill the streak 00:18:24:26 - 00:18:32:02 Geoff Mearns -- that it's been cold. It's been warm, but it has never had rain. So we're counting on 100. We got to have good weather for 100. 00:18:32:06 - 00:18:34:33 Kahmara Munn Have to have good weather. This is such a significant and grand event right? 00:18:34:35 - 00:18:40:40 Blake Maurath Yeah. And we know you guys are all looking forward to it. But, what should students look forward to most for homecoming this year? 00:18:40:44 - 00:18:51:32 Caden Kata Yeah, I think, you know, there's the traditional events, we have every single year, actually kind of alluded to it bed race, air jam or two of the most popular ones. Food truck festival has turned out to be a really popular one for the campus as well. 00:18:51:32 - 00:19:08:40 Caden Kata So I think the great part about Homecoming week is there's something every day, you know, you can walk around campus, you can find a student org doing something at the scramble light, but then we've got our own events as well. So just looking forward to an event every single day, whether it's the food truck fest, bed race, we got a blood drive going on, we have a movie night, we're playing Pitch Perfect. 00:19:08:43 - 00:19:12:23 Caden Kata There's just something to do every single day to celebrate homecoming. 00:19:12:28 - 00:19:21:15 Kahmara Munn Yeah. And Katie, you just walked this down a whole handful of events that are occurring for homecoming week. So how should students go about planning their weekend when it comes to homecoming? 00:19:21:18 - 00:19:27:32 Caden Kata Yeah, I mean, there's pretty much an event every single day. Once you get to Saturday, you've got a lot of different things going on. 00:19:27:34 - 00:19:42:38 Caden Kata Of course, that's the day of homecoming, but just look at be connected, look at social media. We've got all of our events up, and it'll show you the location, the time, what's going on. But just plan to be somewhere every single day, you know, in the evening kind of time frame and you'll be ready to go for homecoming. 00:19:42:41 - 00:19:46:19 Kahmara Munn But don't forget about that homework though, right? That's right. Don't forget about the schoolwork. 00:19:46:21 - 00:19:47:57 Caden Kata Absolutely. 00:19:48:02 - 00:19:56:42 Blake Maurath You know, it's all about the student body for a homecoming. How have you included student feedback in the homecoming planning process for this year? 00:19:56:47 - 00:20:12:29 Caden Kata Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, every year the events aren't the same, the times aren't the same. So as we look at planning, you know, new events, continuing the old events, we look at what students have have thought about, whether they tell us whether they tell other students on social media the general attendance. 00:20:12:29 - 00:20:28:28 Caden Kata That's kind of how we look at that. So there are some events that have gone away and come back. There are some events that, you know, continue strong every single year. So that's kind of a big part of what students want to see. Yeah, just student engagement, seeing what they engage in, and what we can amp up a little bit, and adding new events like Caden said. 00:20:28:33 - 00:20:38:42 Kahmara Munn Yes. And I feel like one of the most, one of the most important parts of joining the steering committee is knowing what you're signing up for, right. So why did you to join the steering committee? 00:20:38:47 - 00:20:49:17 Jillian Brita Well, I actually heard about the committee through a past committee member, and they were telling me how much they just enjoyed it. And, so I just want to be more involved at Ball State, especially something that that was towards something I wanted to do in the future. 00:20:49:17 - 00:21:15:09 Jillian Brita So I decided to give it a go and I'm loving it. So far it's been amazing. It's definitely a new experience, and especially I want to be part of something bigger than myself, and something that was more team oriented. And this was perfect. As we provide for Ball State, for people here past and present. And, what would you tell someone about joining the steering committee about, like, what would you tell them if they wanted to join? 00:21:15:13 - 00:21:33:58 Caden Kata Yeah, it's very rewarding. It's--it's--it's a lot of work in the back end, but you get a lot of transferable skills. So I, I'm a sport administration major. The marketing, the planning, the execution, the little details. Very important. I've learned a lot doing this. So I would encourage anyone that wants to be involved in Ball State and take away a lot of great skills to get involved. 00:21:34:03 - 00:21:47:24 Jillian Brita Yeah, I would say just to expect a lot of hard work, but it comes with a reward that Kaiden said. And even expect friendships. Our team this year has been amazing. We all work so well together and we hang out outside of the committee, so just experience and expect a great experience overall. 00:21:47:28 - 00:21:51:57 Blake Maurath And, you've talked a little bit about the reward of it, being able to see your work all pan out. 00:21:51:59 - 00:22:00:40 Blake Maurath How satisfying is it on, you know, whether it be a game day or throughout the homecoming week? How satisfying is it to see everybody taking part and enjoying homecoming? 00:22:00:47 - 00:22:06:27 Jillian Brita Oh, it's going to be so rewarding. I'm so excited to see it all, just to know that my work was able to do all this and everyone's work on the committee. 00:22:06:32 - 00:22:08:05 Jillian Brita Yeah, it'll be amazing. 00:22:08:10 - 00:22:13:58 Kahmara Munn And, beyond community engagement outreach, are there any other goals that you hope to accomplish this homecoming season? 00:22:14:00 - 00:22:23:53 Jillian Brita Yeah, I think since it's the 100th homecoming, I just hope to pay homage to pass homecomings. And, so people and all the events were doing this year, new and old, they can see the history that's in it. 00:22:23:53 - 00:22:29:16 Jillian Brita And, to see what homecoming was, and how it is today and how we celebrate our traditions. 00:22:29:16 - 00:22:37:56 Blake Maurath Know this is kind of a big one here, but what's the legacy that you want to leave, not just as a member of the committee, but as a Ball State student in general? 00:22:37:56 - 00:22:45:25 Jillian Brita Yeah, I guess I just want my legacy to show that if you get involved in are committed to strengthening Ball State traditions, it really brings a community together. 00:22:45:25 - 00:22:50:22 Jillian Brita And I just hope my work has people be proud of that and how we celebrate what we do here. 00:22:50:27 - 00:22:57:07 Kahmara Munn So earlier, we asked Ashlee what her favorite part of homecoming was. Could you describe to me what your favorite part is? 00:22:57:12 - 00:23:03:24 Caden Kata Yeah, I think, you know, my favorite part is just stepping back. I try, and take 2 or 3 minutes every event and just blend into the crowd. 00:23:03:24 - 00:23:20:35 Caden Kata I'm not a committee member. I'm not not involved and just see the joy, you know? You see the parents bringing their kids enjoying the food truck festival. You see the, you know, plenty of students and parents and families at Air Jam watching their kids on stage. And, just the pure joy. That's my favorite part, is to see how excited everybody gets and that shared sense of Cardinal. 00:23:20:37 - 00:23:20:54 Kahmara Munn Absolutely 00:23:20:59 - 00:23:22:08 Caden Kata Enthusiasm and pride. 00:23:22:11 - 00:23:22:56 Kahmara Munn Yes, Jillian. 00:23:22:56 - 00:23:34:58 Jillian Brita Kind of working off kDa. And, I was going to say seeing the community, it's amazing to see everyone just come together and kind of go home. I guess back home to Ball State, and just being able to relate to each other on things you've been and have done here. 00:23:35:03 - 00:23:36:19 Blake Maurath And President Mearns, what about you? 00:23:36:19 - 00:23:37:19 Blake Maurath What's your favorite part? 00:23:37:22 - 00:23:53:47 Geoff Mearns I really enjoy the bed races and I enjoy the parade. And, then I enjoy watching a homecoming football victory. So it all happens on Saturday from about 9 a.m. to about, hopefully no later than 7 p.m. on a beautiful sunny day. Yes, exactly. 00:23:53:52 - 00:24:01:18 Blake Maurath And, quickly here. Final score prediction Ball State against SAC State. How much are the Cardinals winning by? 00:24:01:23 - 00:24:01:44 Geoff Mearns 1515 points. 00:24:01:47 - 00:24:12:15 Caden Kata Yeah that's pretty good margin right there. Big year for Ball State football. So certainly going to be looking forward to that very much on that big homecoming game day. 00:24:12:20 - 00:24:21:43 Kahmara Munn Yes absolutely. Well thank you to so much for being here. And thank you, president for that football prediction. And, that's all we have time for today for this part of the discussion. 00:24:21:45 - 00:24:26:07 Blake Maurath President Mearns, we want to give you the final minute for your reflection on today's conversation. 00:24:26:09 - 00:24:44:21 Geoff Mearns Sure. Thank you. And so, Caden and Jillian, thank you so much for all of the work that you and your students are putting into this project. And, Kamara and Blake, thank you for giving us an opportunity to showcase our 100th homecoming. As I said just a moment ago, Jennifer and I really enjoy celebrating along with our students and our 200,000 alumni. 00:24:44:22 - 00:25:00:50 Geoff Mearns We hope so many people will come back, and it's a great opportunity for once again to show that Ball State is so integrated into the community so that we can welcome people in our community to our campus. It's going to be an exciting day, and I'm grateful to you for the hard work to make that day, that whole week, particularly special. 00:25:00:50 - 00:25:01:53 Geoff Mearns Thank you very much. 00:25:02:00 - 00:25:08:31 Kahmara Munn Well, thank you so much, President Mearns. That concludes this episode of Cardinal Compass. I'm Kahmara 00:25:08:35 - 00:25:24:22 Blake Maurath And I'm Blake Maurath. Make sure to join us next time for Cardinal Compass Campus and Community Conversations. 00:25:24:27 - 00:25:50:13 Announcer At Ball State University. We welcome you as a learning partner from day one. 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