Students, faculty and alumni all gathered in the Quad this weekend to celebrate UTM’s second annual Quad City.

Each college had their own tent, along with greek organizations and student organizations, to celebrate this year’s homecoming theme: ‘Carnicus Returnicus … Remembering the ‘60s.”

The event started at 10:30 last Saturday morning and went on until a little before the Homecoming football game at 2 p.m. The Quad was filled with laughter as little children were able to jump around in Spacewalks and enjoy carnival-style games that several organizations had set up for the event. Some students and faculty took the time to literally “clown around” with some of the children.

Many organizations had members dressed up like clowns to add to the festivities.

Homecoming is a time when many of the alumni travel back to Martin to share old memories, and to create new ones. As a matter of fact, some alumni loved UTM so much that after they graduated, they became apart of the staff. Brenda Wright graduated from UTM in the spring of 1982. She now works for Information Technical Services.

“I think that (Quad City) is a great event and I would love for the university to keep it going,” Wright said.

There was also live music and many organizations took the time to prepare food for the crowd. The Black Student Association set up their tent to welcome new and old members. BSA President Melanie Turner felt that Quad City was a huge success. Turner said, “This is a nice event for the community, faculty and students. It is so nice that we could all come together to celebrate Homecoming and to have fun.” Quad City also allowed some of the past BSA members to meet present members. Melvin Barnes, class of 1980, served as BSA president nearly 25 years ago. Barnes felt, “ The campus definitely has more diversity with Homecoming now than in the past.

There is more integration of African-American students now than in the late 70’s and 80’s.”

Alumni and children were not the only ones having fun. Current UTM students also had fun listening to live music and enjoying the company of others. Sarah McKenzie, senior Biology Major from Ashland, Ky. said, “With all the diversity at this college all the clubs and greeks have made Quad City a lot better this year than last year, and I am glad I woke up for it.”

As Quad City came to a close, some alumni had words of encouragement for students. Jerrian Moody Ellington graduated in 1984. She wanted students to know, “The sky is the limit when you set your goals, my experience at UTM was phenomenal. Make sure that yours is the same.”

Winning the Quad City tent competition in the fraternity division was Alpha Gamma Rho, followed by Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Kappa Alpha. The sorority winner was Chi Omega, with Alpha Omicron Pi and Zeta Tau Alpha finishing up second and third places.

The Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society won the top award for non-greek student organizations with their liquid nitrogen-frozen ice cream.

Editor's note: In this week's print edition of The Pacer, the Quad City sorority winner was incorrectly identified. The Web edition is correct. We regret this inaccuracy.