Behind the chaos of banner drop and the groove of Mock Rock, one campus group carries the homecoming teams on their backs: everyone’s friendly neighborhood resident assistants.

During homecoming, students have the opportunity to contribute as much or as little as they want to their dorm or coalition teams. But resident assistants bear the heavy burden of balancing classes, jobs, sleep, and homecoming activities on top of it all.

Junior Ben Kennedy, a Simpson RA, has been using most of his free time to keep up with homecoming competition but he has not had much trouble getting the residents excited to participate. From a crowded lobby for filming the homecoming video, to a packed schedule planning everything, Kennedy has enjoyed it all. He said homecoming has given the men a greater opportunity to bond and grow.

“If we all go through something hard together then we come out the other end much better,” Kennedy said. 

One of his favorite things has been seeing his residents contribute to the volunteer hours portion of the competition.

“You’re busy as heck but everybody’s able to just kind of step out of that for a little bit and enter a different role where your focus has shifted towards helping out whoever you’re helping out,” Kennedy said.

Senior Kate Lawson, head RA for Mauck Residence, helps lead the charge for her team’s coalition: the BLOC, consisting of Mauck, Benzing, and the Suites.

She praised her team and the things they are doing to succeed in homecoming.

“Their talents are shining through,” Lawson said. “They’re really doing an incredible job.”

What the team lacks in power she said she hopes they’ll make up for in skill, since none of her residents are freshmen, who tend to be more eager to participate.

“You can’t bring as much power as the freshman dorms,” Lawson said.

Lawson said she looks forward to participating in the rest of homecoming and hopes the BLOC will win this year.

“One thing I love about homecoming is the opportunity to meet people I wouldn’t have otherwise met,” Lawson said. 

Sophomore Max Kinney, a Galloway RA, competes in the homecoming coalition known as Whit-Wat-Way, consisting of Whitley, Waterman, and Galloway. Kinney said he both laments and rejoices in preparing for homecoming.

“Mock Rock is just killer, super fun, but just a lot. I just started my homework at like 10:30 p.m.,” Kinney said.

He said he loves homecoming and finds it both important and enjoyable, particularly for freshmen and building relationships with them as an RA. 

Kinney said he looks back fondly on homecoming last year, even though he broke his foot just before events started and only got 16 hours of sleep during the week. 

“It’s fine to miss assignments for fun sometimes, and this was the one week to have an excuse for that,” Kinney said. “It was fun for me, but seeing other people get to enjoy it for the first time has been even better.”