By Stephanie Afemeku
Correspondent
After almost two years since the pandemic, homecoming was officially back on Oct. 2 with both students and alumni joining together on this special day. The Student Government Association hosted the show and helped put the event together. There was food, games and other outdoor activities. Many organizations were outside the school, engaging with the other students and encouraging them to participate. One thing a lot of students and alumni looked forward to was the spirit week performances.
“Today we did a lot of background work, talking a lot with the organizations and getting information from them about what they would need from us in terms of sound and music,” said Kellie Tucker, a senior communications major. “We also collect their bios so that we’ll be able to share what they do to everyone. The main thing that I was looking forward to was seeing all of the TCNJ students come together and showcase all of their talents.”
The performances were held by the following organizations: Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Tap Ensemble, The Trentones, Synergy, TCNJ Musical Theatre and TCNJ Pep Band.
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia kicked off the show with some acoustic songs written by bands such as the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and more.
Junior mechanical engineering major Matt Martinez wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of performing as Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia didn’t get to do much of that the previous year. Martinez discussed how they prepared.
“When we came together for practice, we had a few songs picked out and it ended up just becoming what we knew,” Martinez said.
Another performance that stole the show was The Trentones: the a capella group that has been at the College since 2002.
Terrance Odonkor, a senior music major from the Trentones, had the group perform a Pentatonix song and a song called “Blue Skies.”
“The Trentones rehearse three times a week. We work on our music outside and inside of rehearsal and then we break it into smaller chunks and we just practice and practice and practice until it’s memorized and once it’s memorized we keep cleaning it until it’s ready to be performed,” Odonkor said.
Next came the Tap ensemble who were ready to perform once again with a lively tap performance that got everyone cheering.
Nicole Decker, president of the Tap Ensemble and a junior nursing major, commented on what she was excited about in homecoming.
“I’m looking forward to finally being able to perform in person once again,” Decker said. “We’ve been doing a tap dance from someone to you, and it’s just been passed down throughout the years and it’s a tradition to do it at homecoming.”
Synergy, a dance group at the College, wowed the crowd with an upbeat jazz mashup routine that was graceful to watch.
Senior applied mathematics major Megan Kabinski shared how she and the dance crew prepared for their homecoming performance.
“We had a bunch of mandatory practices for the past two weeks where we’ve been working for about two hours each practice, getting ready for our performance and learning all-new choreography,” Kabinski said. “There were all upbeat jazz songs and we picked it because we wanted to have a welcome back song.”
TCNJ Pep Band plays music to liven up the homecoming spirit (Photo courtesy of Liz Osekavage/photo editor).
There was also the TCNJ Musical Theatre performing a piece from their musical, “Little Women,” and the TCNJ Pep band with their triumphant music. Because of the number of great performances during homecoming, it was hard for anybody to pick which one they liked best.
“It’s hard to pick a favorite because everyone just displayed so many talents and every performance was so unique in their own ways,” said Sarah Ahson, a member of the Student Government Association and a junior speech pathology major.
