By Deena BustilloPLAY Writer
Between being the Northwestern Homecoming chair, a Fusion dancer, yearbook photographer and WNUR sportscaster, Medill junior Amber Jones barely has time to sleep. Despite her months of long days and sleepless nights, we will all benefit from the Homecoming festivities, promised to top years past. Celebrity and sweets included.
PLAY: What does Homecoming chair entail?
Amber Jones: I was selected to be the chair of Homecoming. It’s my responsibility to recruit a committee and go through interviews and process like that and oversee everything that happens with Homecoming. I’m allowed to dissolve or create committees as I see fit and basically just make sure every single aspect of Homecoming is planned. I don’t do a lot of the hands on planning because I leave that up to committee chairs but I am the one that’s responsible for making sure at the end of the day a final product is presented to the university.
PLAY: How do you manage to still have a life outside of Homecoming?
AJ: I don’t have a life at all. I don’t do a lot of hands-on planning, I do a lot of the small things. I do talk to a lot of people that have questions about Homecoming. I have to go through each committee and make sure everything they’re doing is accurate and efficient and its what we need to do. It does take a lot of time.
From the minute I wake up to the time I go to bed at night, I’m doing something for Homecoming. But I love it. That’s why I do it. And that’s why it’s not a big burden for me at all. It’s something I really enjoy. And it’s hard to balance everything.
I get tons of emails each day about Homecoming and have to make sure the Web site’s going OK and this event has contracts. I have to make sure these people are talking to these people. But it all works out, most people at Northwestern are multitaskers and it just has to be done.
PLAY: How did you get Stephen Colbert to be Grand Marshall?
AJ : At the end of each year we start formulating a committee and we start brainstorming ideas for Grand Marshall. Each year it’s no different. Someone suggested Stephen Colbert, just out of the blue. We have some kind of contacts through the Alumni Association. We contacted him at the beginning of the summer and waited and waited and waited for the reply until…I want to say August. He confirmed.
PLAY: What should we get excited about for Homecoming this year?
AJ : Everything. We have so many events, way more events than we’ve ever had in the past. I want to say 15 to 20, somewhere around that range. We have a campus water balloon toss today. We have a wonderful party, dance club thing tonight.
I wanted to have activities that are different. I don’t think were doing anything this year that we did last year. We have costume contests every day. We have bake sales; we have tons of things that apply to everyone. We really wanted to reach out to everyone this year. I think that’s been the best thing. We have a celebrity Grand Marshall, which we haven’t had one as famous in the past.
Everyone’s been working really hard. I have a wonderful exec board. At the beginning it was tough, we got some of the same old same old ideas, but I pushed them. I didn’t accept anything they gave me that was ordinary or mundane.
PLAY: What’s next?
AJ : I’m going to cry. This is my last Homecoming because I have to go on TM next fall. I was thinking, “What can I do next year?” But I can’t do any of it. But as soon as Homecoming is over we’re going to have a small celebration with the exec board, to celebrate months and months of planning. I’m going to have a lot of free time, sleep more, go to dinner more, catch up on a lot of homework that’s been put off. It’s going to be a sad thing when Homecoming is over just because I really love it; it’s grown to be my child. My thing. Anything that you dedicate this much time to and that you’re willing to put your name on the line to be responsible for has to be something that you’re passionate about. It’s really going to be bitter sweet.
