Webster University’s annual Homecoming brought with it football games, rides and galas on Sept. 23-24.
This year’s Homecoming weekend included additions such as President Elizabeth Stroble’s speech to approximately 150 alumni and parents at a reception Friday night.
The annual gala was held at Westborough Country Club Saturday night. The gala honored alumni and featured the classes of 1961 and 1986 who are celebrating their 25th and 50th reunion.
Kris Knapstein, President of the Alumni Association, was in charge of presenting awards.
Nelda K. Lee received the Distinguished Alumni Award. She graduated in 1999 with a degree in Management and Human Resources Development. Lee has been working for Boeing for the past 35 years.
Amy Lorenz-Moser received the Loretto Award, an award given for humanity and social justice. Missouri Lawyers Weekly awarded Moser Lawyer of the Year in 2010 for a decade of representing abused women pro-bono.
The annual student versus alumni football game took place Saturday at noon. For the last six years, the alumni have dominated the game, but this year students won. The final score was 33-53. The win was not very expected. This year’s participants on the alumni side included several recently graduated members.
“It was a lot of fun, even if we hadn’t won,” said student player Aaron Obernuefermann.
For students, Campus Activities set up a musical act for each day. Friday night, live music was provided by student DJs, Kevin Mimms and Michael Henry. Saturday afternoon, the modern rock/pop band, Ahhh! Real Monsters took the stage. The highlight of their act was a cover of New Found Glory’s, “My Friends Over You”.
Unlike in previous years, the carnival took place on Friday and Saturday. Director of Campus Activities Lauren Douglas said she was happy with student attendance.
About 300 students attended Friday night. Billy Ratz, Development Officer at the Alumni Office, said he was happy with the turnout of parents, alumni and students combined. Though both days were a bit chilly, it didn’t rain, which probably allowed more people to attend.
Although last year’s carnival ended with minor injuries, Douglass said they were never directly reported to Campus Activities.
Douglass said Campus Activities only learned about the incidents through The Journal. Campus Activities took last year’s injuries into consideration this year. They hired the same company, American Banner Amusements. Many of the rides were the same including the ferris wheel, The Rocko Plane ride, The Scrambler and the slide. The new rides brought this year were the fun house, bumper cars and the Tornado.
Share this post
