The College's Homecoming week finished with a bang on Saturday. In addition to the Lion's home game against the Pioneers of William Paterson University (WPU), the College had a multitude of events planned throughout the day for students and families to enjoy.
Students, alumni and their families were anxious to start celebrating with tailgaters who started in the early morning hours. Some parked overnight to secure a good spot in the parking lot.
The College had a full day of events planned for students, as well as their visiting family members, including everyone from parents to younger siblings. The Little Lions Tailgate, complete with inflatable slide and moon bounce, was located on the lawn by Lot 5. Several children were enjoying themselves on the attractions while their parents looked on.
"This was a great idea," Patty Davatelis, a Pennington resident, said. She was attending the event with her husband George, and their sons, Alex and Max. "Our kids can have fun too while we catch up with (my nephew)," she said.
"They don't have this at every football game," added George, "so we're really taking advantage of it." Max, 8, was too busy enjoying himself in the moon bounce to be reached for comment.
College ambassadors were out promoting the College experience, giving students and their families tours of the campus.
"The campus is really beautiful at this time of the year," Chris Fern, ambassador and senior mechanical engineer major, said, "and we want to show the students and their families everything we have to offer here."
Nicole Cascione, freshman music education major, took advantage of the sunny weather and toured the campus with her parents, Michael and Suzette.
"Nicole is a music education major, so it's nice to see that they have such a good music building here," Suzette said. "I feel like she made a smart decision coming here."
The Casciones chose to take the walking tour, but other families took advantage of golf cart tours also offered.
There was an open-invitation party thrown all day in the Rathskeller and Brower Student Center, and the Casciones said they were planning on heading there after the tour for lunch.
Students and their families seemed to enjoy themselves all day, and the festivities culminated in a Lions victory over WPU.
Kate Lafferty, senior nursing major, is graduating at the end of this school year but said, "If next year's Homecoming is as good as this one, I'm definitely going to come back for it."
