Clemson homecoming floats were displayed and judged the Friday before the victorious homecoming game against NC State
Homecoming came to a close amidst a clear victory against NC State and the celebrations of countless students and alumni, but the game was not the only exciting part of this weekend. Far before fireworks exploded over the amphitheater and Gnash even set foot on stage, members of Greek Life were planning their floats. The winners were announced during the game, but most people are not aware of all the work that goes into the tissue paper masterpieces.
“The process all started six months ago when they draw out what the float is going to be,” said Hollis Skidmore, a sophomore industrial engineering major. Skidmore, a member of Sigma Kappa, was involved in much of the events this year. “They construct giant chicken wire sculptures…what we have to do is put pieces of tissue paper in each individual hole in different patterns, in different colors, until we get one cohesive image that represents Clemson theme.”
The theme for this year’s homecoming was “Under an Orange Colored Sky”. It also was extremely fitting that Saturday’s game ended right as the sun was setting, staining the sky above the stadium purple, pink and most importantly, orange.
Sigma Kappa worked alongside Alpha Gamma Rho and Zeta Tau Alpha, and the three depicted Tillman Hall with one such Clemson sunset in the background.
“There’s some extra different pieces that are going to be hanging around too like the Esso Club sign,” Skidmore said. “I haven’t seen the finished product yet but it’s going to be awesome!”
Claire Queenan, a freshman business major, is a part of Chi Omega and also spent several working on her sorority’s float.
“We had purple mountains and really cool orange, pink sky,” Queenan said. “We made this cool pick-up truck that we stuck in front of it, and there was a tiger wearing a Deshaun Watson jersey coming out of it. It was really cool!”
Beta Theta Pi and Theta Chi also helped create the float.
“The boys did all the construction work, and the girls came and did the pomping and stuff,” Queenan said. “Pomping, you get in the zone! If you’re doing it for a while, you literally don’t think about it and just keep going.”
Despite the hours of building and pomping, it seems like all the work was well worth it.
“It’s a really great way to make friends and see what our community comes together to do,” Skidmore said. “It promotes involvement and really gets everyone in the Clemson spirit.”
“It was a good way to meet all the boys and the pledges in our grade and get to know the girls in my sorority more,” Queenan said.
When asked, both Skidmore and Queenan said they would be attending the homecoming game.
“I’ll be screaming my head off from the lower deck,” Skidmore said. “I’m really excited for the rest of the year as well.”