For the Homecoming parade, Associated Students of Boise State University (ASBSU) rented 30 golf carts so student organizations could create floats. The golf carts were rented by the university to encourage and enable a greater number of organizations to participate in the parade. So far, 20 organizations have signed up for a golf cart.
But was enough done to make students aware of the opportunity?
To sign up, organizations could go to the Homecoming website and find the application through the Homecoming parade link on the sidebar. The deadline to apply for a golf cart was Friday
Providing golf carts to organizations was a good idea, for a variety of reasons. Although there was an application process, it allows for more student organizations to be a part of the Homecoming parade, which was exactly the point of offering the golf carts in the first place.
There was a lot more that could have been done by ASBSU to promote the golf carts and their availability to students. It could have been a simple matter of more emails, some posters or more information on the internet.
ASBSU does have a responsibility to make sure as many students and student organizations as possible are able to participate in school events. So really the golf carts are just a way to ensure more people have great memories of the Homecoming parade of 2012. It was just not an effort that was obvious or easy to learn about.
In an e-mail sent out to the registered organizations, ASBSU said they were offering $100 to organizations who fill out an application and who needed it, to be used for decoration on the float. So student organizations could not only get a float vehicle, but they could decorate it as well.
The $100 wouldn’t affect any organization’s funding for the remainder of the year either according to ASBSU president Ryan Gregg, which is a pretty sweet deal for some clubs that don’t receive as much funding
as others.
At $35 a piece, as priced by vice president of student affairs office, the golf carts weren’t exactly cheap, but the involvement of student clubs is worth the price. While not a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity, the Homecoming parade can be a big deal for students.
“We think Homecoming is an important BSU tradition,” Gregg said. Homecoming as a general tradition can be traced back to the early 1900′s when it was first celebrated in an effort to unite alumni and current students in their love of their school and while not everyone can be expected to have untamable school spirit, the importance of Homecoming as a rallying point for students and alumni alike is still present.
During Tuesday’s ASBSU assembly meeting Gregg said, “We’re not doing this because we have too much money,” noting it was a focused effort to enable more students, but in the future perhaps ASBSU will dedicate just a little bit more time and money to promoting such a neat opportunity.
You may not be the type to deck out in orange and blue for football games but chances are you chose the school for a reason, which means there is a certain amount of emotional attachment that comes with the territory.
Homecoming may not be a largely defining moment of your college career, but the spirit of Homecoming can certainly make a
difference.
Hopefully next year the actions taken by ASBSU will be similar to engage students and hopefully they will promote their efforts more to make full use of all those golf carts.
To see the golf carts in action, the parade will take place on Oct. 20 and will begin at 9:30 a.m.
