By Zack Miller//Students, alumni, faculty, family and friends all gathered at Hood College on Oct. 21 and 22 as the college held its annual Homecoming and Fall Family Weekend.
The festivities began late Friday evening with an event hosted by the school’s Campus Activity Board (CAB) where hypnotist Marshall Manlove performed in front of a crowd filled with Hood College students.
Manlove began by inviting approximately 10 students on stage that believed in the hypnotism. Once on stage, he began the complex process of hypnotizing by having them listen to his voice and relaxing completely.
After a few minutes, the students on stage and the CAB President, senior Jackie Bealer, who was sitting in the audience were at Manlove’s will. Doing everything from catching Pokémon, to riding in a spaceship and protecting their own shoes, the students followed his every direction.
“It was a very weird feeling,” Senior Annie Lessard said. “I was aware of everything going on around me yet I could really make sense of it or seem to control how I reacting to things.”
After Manlove was finished his act, the events for the night continued with Whitaker Late Night where there was a DJ, free taco bar and games for all students.
“I was and all of the CABbies were really pleased with the turnout of the hypnotist and the late night events,” Bealer said. “Everyone seemed to have a great time and we are actually working on bringing him [Manlove] back later in the year.”
The festivities continued early Saturday morning with the Presidential 5K Fun Run where Brett Shelly placed first. Additionally, money earned though “virtual runners” and donations went to the Blue and Grey athletics booster club, according to the college’s website and Facebook page.
Over the course of the day, almost all of Hood’s athletic teams had a game or meet. Women’s field hockey was the first match to take place and the team hosted Lebanon Valley. The Blazers had a tough day on the field losing 8-0, but the team was in good spirits because the match was also Senior Day.
The next match that took place involved the women’s soccer team in an inner-conference matchup against Lycoming that ultimately ended in a 1-1 tie. Sophomore Sam Bauer was the one who supplied the Blazer’s only goal and it marked the first goal of her collegiate career.
“I was just overwhelmed that I could contribute to the team,” Bauer said. “It was homecoming… I had my parents, grandmother, and best friend in the stands with the support of Hood College and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to be ‘statistically relevant’ as our team would say.”
The final match of the day that took place on Hood’s campus involved the men’s soccer team and Lycoming as well, in another inner-conference matchup. Similarly to the women, the match ended in a 0-0 tie.
Swimming and volleyball both had competitions but they took place at Goucher and Gettysburg, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Homecoming festival and tailgating that was supposed to take place on the quad was moved inside due to the high winds gusts while the soccer game was taking place. It was unfortunate that the move had to happen but safety and comfort comes first, Bealer said.
The final event of the weekend was the showing of the summer box office hit “Finding Dory.” Just like the festival, the weather forced the movie to be shown inside Hodson Auditorium instead of being outside like originally planned. The change of venue did not stop a crowd of college students from attending though.
“Overall, it was a really great weekend for Homecoming, even if Mother Nature did not always make things easy or as fun as they could have been,” Bealer said.