IUAA makes alumni feel welcome for Homecoming

The IU Alumni Association will sponsor several events as part of IU's Homecoming festivities this weekend including today's annual Homecoming Parade, pre-game party and a brunch for alumni on Saturday.\nEach Saturday beginning two hours before any home football game, an indoor party called a "Big Red Warm-up" is held at the Virgil T. DeVault Alumni Center located on 17th Street across from Assembly Hall. The warm-up is sponsored by the IU Student Alumni Association.\nThe SAA is an off-shoot organization of the IUAA and is responsible for bringing students into the fold and encouraging them to benefit from the many services IUAA offers after graduation comes.\nThe pre-game party usually draws 200 or more people, and the number of attendees is gradually increasing, said junior Becky Junokas, SAA director of support for leadership.\nThese warm-ups are a way of bringing students into the Alumni Center as well as helping them get connected with other alumni.\n"It's definitely an important event for us," said Tara Sherwin, a graduate assistant for the IUAA, "because it's a two-prong attack on students and alumni. It brings students into the alumni center so they are exposed to the building, what we do and our table with our membership sign-ups. And students are also exposed to alumni who come in for the home football games, so they can talk with them and see what it is like to be an alumni and be in that other world."\nSherwin said "the other world" is life after college, which seems "awfully far off as a freshmen."\nSherwin said the warm-up benefits alumni who come because it connects them with the students, and she feels the SAA can accomplish its goals this way.\nAlso Saturday, the IUAA is welcoming alumni and friends at its 16th annual Homecoming Brunch. \n"Sweet Home Indiana" will be held at the John Mellencamp Pavilion located on Fee Lane next to Memorial Stadium.\nThe event, sponsored by the IUAA, IU Foundation, Hoosiers for Higher Education and IU Varsity Club, is expected to draw a crowd of at least 1,000 people, IUAA staffer Lori Pearson said in a statement.\nThe program will include entertainment from groups including the IU Singing Hoosiers, the IU Cheerleaders and Craig Brenner and the Crawdads. Speakers will include IU-Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm, Athletic Director Terry Clapacs and IUAA CEO Ken Beckley.\nTickets cost $12 for adults and $6 for children 12 and under. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door.\n-- Contact staff writer Brandon Morley at bmorley@indiana.edu.