Behind-the-scenes efforts make Homecoming an annual success

As we approach Baylor Homecoming’s 100th anniversary, it would be easy to assume that an event as long-running as this just happens each year, without thinking about all the work that goes on behind the scenes to provide alumni, students and others the first-class events and activities that take place each fall — most notably the Pep Rally/Bonfire and the Homecoming Parade (still the nation’s oldest and longest — watch online if you can’t make it out). But someone has to be working to prepare for the thousands of alumni who will descend on campus this weekend, and for these centerpiece activities and more, that someone is the students who make up Baylor’s Chamber of Commerce.

As a student, all I knew about Chamber was that they took care of Baylor’s live bear mascots, but that’s just the beginning. Chamber heads up almost the entire Homecoming weekend, a responsibility they have been tasked with since the mid 1930s. During Homecoming, Chamber organizes not only the bonfire and parade but also Freshman Mass Meeting, the selection of the Homecoming Queen and the float building and judging process.

As if that weren’t enough, each year Chamber also organizes the thousands of freshmen and transfers in the Baylor Line, heads up both Parents Weekend and Winter Premiere for thousands more parents and prospective students, hosts Diadeloso for students and local alumni, and of course, runs the Bear Mascot Program, caring for Lady and Joy. Chamber members do all these things and more while maintaining success in the classroom.

Without much recognition, the 40 or so students who make up Chamber work industriously to make countless Baylor events special for all those involved.  “Anything for Baylor;” that’s Chamber’s motto, and the members live by it.

Sic ’em, Baylor Chamber!