Reunions
Homecoming/RAMpage Gathers Students — Future, Present and Past
Tours for high-schoolers, parade on Franklin and post-game mixer highlight weekend
Junior Sonia Kendrick stood in the park- ing lot behind Morrison dorm Friday
afternoon, talking on one cell phone while
texting on another. The campus visitation
coordinator, she was to meet a couple dozen
high school juniors and seniors for a seven-hour recruitment odyssey, and she was still
missing a few. At 3 p.m. sharp, she called
time and led sophomore volunteer Jeffrey
Veale Jr. and the two most recent arrivals to
a room in Hardin Hall, where a panel of
student volunteers sat ready to field questions from the potential applicants.
GORDON PALMER ’ 82
At first the high-schoolers, strangers to
one another, squirmed self-consciously, not
wanting to be the first to admit to not
knowing everything. Finally, one brave guy
raised his hand.
The highlight of the pregame festivities was the return of the Homecoming parade this year to downtown Chapel Hill. Dozens of
student groups participated, and hundreds of spectators lined Franklin Street to cheer them on.
“Do you have to pass a swim test to
graduate from Carolina?” he asked.
With the ice broken, the students who
signed up for the Carolina Diversity
Experience slowly gave up their questions.
“Are the dorm rooms small?” “Do you have
to take a language?” “Do you have to go to
every class?” “Is a 3 on an AP exam good
enough?”
The five panelists used each question as a
springboard to talk about life at Carolina
and how to negotiate college. The event,
sponsored by the Black Alumni Reunion
over Homecoming/RAMpage 2009 week-
end in November, immersed the children
of alumni into real-world Carolina. Over
the next several hours, the group toured
campus, met with admissions staff, ate din-
ner at Granville Towers and watched a
three-hour step show.
The panel of students and the session with
the admissions staff were highlights for some
in the group. A high school sophomore, Bria
Cofield, daughter of Michelle Cofield ’ 87
and Divann Cofield ’ 88 of Raleigh, gathered tips admissions staff gave about what
they look for in their ideal applicant. High
school junior Charles Parker of Fayetteville,
nephew of Charlene Parker ’ 83, left the
session relieved that his accomplishments
so far put him on track for acceptance.
Admissions staff led the group through an
online application, which made the process
seem less intimidating, he said. “I have
friends applying this year,” he said, “and I
can see the stress they’re going through.”
High school senior Keia Faison, daughter
of Walter Faison’ 82 and Desdemona Faison
’ 83 of Durham already has sent in her
application for early admission. After years
of worrying over what UNC would expect
of her academically, she saw a different side
of campus life during the diversity event —
the fun side, and that made it more real, she
said. “It was cool to have applied and a
week or so later be on campus and think,
wow, I could really be here next year.”
Tar Heel Pride on Parade
Saturday morning, waiting for the parade
to line up, Rameses grazed on the lawn
behind the Ackland Art Museum, ignoring
a fluffy puppy invading his space. On the
Carolina Union Activities Board float on
Cameron Avenue, seniors Katherine Demby
and Kevin Nguyen, juniors Adele Ricciardi
and Justin Tyler and sophomore Vann Mitchell
shared a bag of pretzels after learning they
wouldn’t be allowed to toss pretzels into
the crowd. “Too dangerous,” Tyler said.
While the six Homecoming queen candidates divided themselves among two
BMW convertibles, the trio of candidates for
king sprawled in the back of an outsized
shiny black pickup. Sophomores Ronald
Redmond, Lorenzo Hopper and Desmond
Rowe volunteered to be candidates as a
way to promote their service projects.
Radio station WCHL’s “Heel-raiser,” a
Carolina blue customized ’ 74 Cadillac
Fleetwood hearse, gave a blast of its horn that
sounded as if it came from a freight train,
and a blue Tar Heel motorcycle roared its
unmufflered engine. The parade stepped off
promptly at 11 a.m. The Homecoming
football game against Duke was set for 3: 30
p.m., a kickoff time that left parade partici-
pants breathing a sigh of relief when it was
announced, said senior Erin Marubashi. “If
the game had started at noon,” she said, “the
parade would have been at 8 in the morning.”
The Marching Band, the student groups
with banners, the floats and the fancy cars
slowly proceeded east along Franklin Street.
The crowd batted cries of “Tar!” and
“Heels!” back and forth across the street. A
little girl in a UNC cheerleader’s outfit
bobbed her golden ringlets to the beat of the
drums and gave the band two thumbs up.
Birthday Boy Takes It All in Stride
The parade turned right on Raleigh Road
and right again on Cameron, but Rameses’
trailer peeled off and headed to the Bell
Tower, where the ram, his curled horns lacquered blue, hopped off and nibbled on
some bushes. It was the 85th birthday of the
ram mascot at Carolina, and GAA staff in
one of the hedge-edged quadrants at the
base of the Bell Tower were handing out blue
and white cupcakes in his honor. The smell
of hushpuppies and other fried morsels
wafted through the air from nearby buffets.
Chris Hogan, whose family has been tak-
