Homecoming 2023 Wrap Up

Home to Howee image

Homecoming 2023 Wrap Up

On the third weekend of October, they came “Home to Howee.”

Some of them graduated from Maryville College in the spring. Others crossed the commencement stage more than a half-century ago. And all of them are bound by the legacy of an institution that still stands noble, grand and true more than 200 years after its founding.

Held Oct. 20-22, Homecoming 2023 included the celebration of long-standing traditions and the establishment of new ones, but the bond shared between Scots of all ages was as omnipresent as always. With perfect weather, victories on athletic courts and fields and the well-met reunions of classmates from across the years, it was a weekend of joy and remembrance, all of it draped in orange and garnet.

Some of the annual events that make up Homecoming looked a little different in 2023: The annual Founder’s Day celebration was transformed into a showcase for the MC performing arts, including the Homecoming Choir of alumni choral members joining in song with current students, and the ceremony still honored recipients of the annual Alumni Awards and featured exciting updates about the College from President Dr. Bryan Coker. The Alumni Brunch marked its second year as a Homecoming event, while the annual craft festival organized by the Blount County Alumni Association entered its second year officially named the Alvin C. Baker ’72 Harvest Craft Fair, but the breaking of bread and the coterie of crafts were as warmly familiar as ever.

In the newly christened Scot-Land, children played and were able to engage with student groups like the Scots Science ScholarsCommunity Engaged Scholars and the Student Programming Board, among others, while their parents no doubt wondered if perhaps, one day, their kids might also consider Howee as a college home. Scots from classes ending in 3s and 8s, and especially the milestone reunion classes of 1963, 1973 and 1983 assembled in celebration, a little older than the last time but rejuvenated by the fellow Scots whose camaraderie serves as a wellspring of youthful reminiscences. The Center for Campus Ministry filled with the names of the departed, but the memories they left behind were honored by the classmates who remember them in stories fondly told.

In celebrating another Homecoming, Scots young and old continue to write stories — their own, and those of the place that taught them to do good on the largest possible scale. It’s a place where Chilhowee’s lofty mountains pierce the Southern blue, where orange and garnet float forever, and where “Home to Howee” isn’t just an event: It’s a glorification of all that it means to be a Scot.

Here’s a look back in picture, video and word of Homecoming 2023, and please …

Save the date: Homecoming 2024 is Oct. 25-27!

Photos

Homecoming 2023

Videos

Scenes from Homecoming 2023
 

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Stories