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GCC's inaugural Homecoming celebration was really groovy

By Billie Owens

Here's a news release from Genesee Community College.

Genesee Community College alumni and their families were welcomed back to a festive fall weekend for the first Homecoming celebration on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 1 and 2.

Hundreds of Genesee alumni filled the campus attending soccer games, class reunions, the Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony and the Cougar Reunion Mixer. The weekend was an overall success for the college and its accomplished graduates.

Led by a committee of 10 alumni, and chaired by Patti Michalak ('70) and Pam Whitcombe ('69), all classes of Genesee graduates were welcomed to partake in several alumni-centered activities. Throughout the weekend, 14 WGCC 90.7 radio station alumni came back to be guest DJ's to broadcast the weekend's events live.

Highlights included the women's and men's alumni soccer games played Friday night under the lights of the new soccer stadium. Classes from 1980-2010 were represented on the field, including 40 men alumni and 22 women alumni. The camaraderie of years past made the soccer games an enjoyable event not just for the alumni players, but for the spectators as well.

An alumni brunch that featured a banquet breakfast with the 'Prez and Profs' was a very successful event that brought past professors together with alumni, current professors, students and the president. The brunch featured the CEO Club's wildly popular Apple Cider Syrup product which was served over pancakes to the crowd of more than 100. The CEO Club also sold bottles of the syrup to the attendees as part of its fundraising efforts.

The first group of inductees was welcomed into the new Athletic Hall of Fame with an induction ceremony and celebration on Saturday evening. The standing-room-only crowd welcomed six new members and one team to the inaugural class in the new Cougar Athletic Hall of Fame.

Then Homecoming attendees danced the night away at the Cougar Reunion Mixer in the Forum. It featured a "hippie '60s" theme and paid special recognition to the classes of 1969 and 1970.

"The overall weekend was a huge success," said Jackie Christenson, Alumni Affairs coordinator at Genesee. "It was great to see old faces and new faces come back to campus to meet up with old friends from their days of classes at GCC.

"The alumni soccer players are already talking about next year's game! Homecoming could not have been possible without the help of the awesome committee that worked so hard to pull it off. We all can't wait for next year's Homecoming!"

For further information or for photographs of Homecoming weekend, please call Christenson at 585-343-0055, ext. 6265 or email <http://jkchristenson@genesee.edu>.

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