Homecoming football game highlights weekend

The Alumni Association has put together a full schedule of events that will bring Southeast graduates back to campus to enjoy the weekend's festivities and show their enduring school spirit.

"Homecoming is the number one day that we get alumni coming back and visiting campus," Director of Alumni Services Shad Burner said.

"It's really hard to gauge what that exact number is, but my guess would be in the thousands," Burner said. "They love it. They love putting on their Southeast gear and hitting all the places they used to go to in town and seeing the football team."

The Alumni Association will kick off the weekend with the Endowed Scholarship Reception, in association with the Southeast Missouri University Foundation, at 4 p.m. on Friday at the Show Me Center. The reception gives scholarship recipients the opportunity to meet with scholarship donors.

The association's Copper Dome Society and Merit Award Recognition Dinner will take place immediately after the reception at 6:30 p.m. and will honor alumni and faculty who have experienced success in their chosen professions. On Saturday morning, the All-Alumni Breakfast will be held at 7:30 a.m. at the Aleen Vogel Wehking Alumni Center.

"Current students are more than welcome to attend the alumni breakfast," Burner said. "We'd love to have students at that. We usually don't get a lot because it's at 7:30 a.m. after what has sometimes been a long night for students. But it's a great time to network with alumni because it has a more casual, laid back atmosphere."

Saturday evening the Alumni Association will mark the close of the homecoming weekend with its Diamond Club Reception for alumni age 70 and older at 4 p.m. at the River Campus.

Burner said despite the fact that current students are welcome at all of the Alumni Association events, turnout has been minimal in the past.

He hopes more students choose to attend this year and said alumni love the opportunity to speak with current students and reminisce about the past.

"As you get older and you look back on your life, college is just one of those times that you remember with fondness because it's a lot of fun and it's a carefree time in most people's lives," Burner said. "People like to come back and relive that, if only for a weekend."