Ohio Northern University will give it the ‘ol college try with a full slate of activities on tap for Homecoming weekend Oct. 4-6.
The annual event offers a special time for former students to return to their college home, relive cherished memories, visit with longtime friends and reconnect with their alma mater.
The full schedule of activities is available online at onu.edu/event/homecoming.
The centerpiece will be the Homecoming parade in downtown Ada beginning at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 5, which will feature James Lehr Kennedy as grand marshal. The great-grandson of ONU founder Henry Solomon Lehr, Kennedy has built a successful career as an entrepreneur, inventor and artist, in addition to serving on the ONU Board of Trustees and supporting the University.
The parade will be followed by a tailgate lunch at 11:30 a.m. in the ONU Sports Center Field House, as well as an activities tent and inflatable activities in the center of campus.
Also during that time, the HealthWise mobile clinic will offer blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose screenings by students in ONU’s chapter of the National Community Pharmacists Association in the same location until 2 p.m.
Further, an open house will be held at the new James Lehr Kennedy Engineering Building from 10 a.m. to noon.
A women’s soccer game against Marietta College will be held at 1 p.m. in Kerscher Stadium.
Football
In the Homecoming football game, the Polar Bears will tangle with the Marietta College Pioneers at 1:30 p.m. at Dial-Roberson Stadium.
The William L. Robinson Young Alumni Award recipients will be recognized in pre-game ceremonies at 1 p.m., and the Homecoming king and queen will be crowned during halftime. The young alumni awards honor Robinson, who has regularly gone the extra mile during his career and beyond to help ONU’s students and who remains a staunch supporter of the University.
Following the game, an all-alumni reception will be held from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at The Inn at Ohio Northern University.
Jack Hanna
“Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild Live; presented by Nationwide” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. in the Freed Center for the Performing Arts. Contact the Freed Center box office for ticket availability and pricing at freedcenter.com or 419-772-1900. Alumni can receive a special rate through the ONU Office of Alumni Engagement.
Further, the three-day weekend will be filled with activities that are tied to specific colleges and campus organizations, as well as cultural offerings and informative talks.
Among cultural programs on Oct. 5 are the “Homecoming Through the Years” exhibit beginning at 10 a.m. in Heterick Memorial Library; “A Rush and a Push” exhibit of paintings by Jeffrey Cortland Jones from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Elzay Gallery; and “Sharing and Growing in our Faith, 1971 to the present” religious life event at 4 p.m. in the English Chapel.
