On Monday, Oct. 17, Buctainment set off homecoming week for the Bucs by hosting a pep rally and skate night event.

The pep rally was held at the amphitheater located beside the D.P Culp Student Center, bringing students together despite the cold weather. The skate night was held at the local skating rink, the Johnson City Family Skate Center. Merging the events, the crowd at the pep rally and the Buctainment staff walked to the rink as a group, upholding a message of unity and fun.

Buctainment staff programmer and marketing and recruiting chair Allie Collins was assigned leader of the event and was the emcee alongside Caelan Peterson. Collins hosted the pep rally event and helped introduce the fraternities and sororities on campus at the assembly.

“This was our first full-blown amount of students back on campus after [Covid-19], so we wanted to go all out,” Collins said. “We wanted to make it big and get freshmen excited, even sophomores, juniors and seniors.”

With free snacks and drinks, students were able to skate, eat and hang out with their friends as well as Bucky, who made a special appearance on the rink.

Having been working with ETSU for 20 years, Assistant Director of New Student Family Programs Jennifer Webb also owns the skating rink the event was held at. As assistant director, she has also worked on orientations, PREVIEW and other first-year experiences in the past. She was thrilled to be involved in homecoming as well.

“It is fantastic. We had a better turnout than we expected, so I’m really glad that everybody came out. They’re having a great time,” Webb said.

Having been in the works since summer, the Buctainment staff has high hopes for homecoming at ETSU this year.

For more information, visit the ETSU website at etsu.edu/homecoming.