By Da`Quan Martin; The Whetstone

Many students at Wesley College said they were disappointed by this year’s Homecoming events because of low attendance and lack of preparation. 

Senior Autumn Brown said this year’s Homecoming was a disaster. 

“There weren’t too many events known, and these events wasn’t brought to many students’ attention as past years were,” she said. “The Homecoming ‘reveal’ (events revealed on flyers and social media about Homecoming) wasn’t as great like the past years.” 

Senior Sydney Brokenborough said Homecoming was unorganized.  

“We did not know the events of Homecoming until the week of, so people who have to work couldn’t take off or plan properly to enjoy it,” she said. “They combined the pep rally and the fashion show into one, which was supposed to be a two-hour event and it felt like it was less than 30 minutes.” 

President of Student Activities Board Wendy-Akua Adjei said her board did the best it could given the circumstances. 

“We put together the events in hopes to get people to come out.” she said. “It’s difficult to get people to come out to events.” 

But it’s also about the SAB’s problems at the beginning of the year. 

“SAB started planning Homecoming as early as we could,” she said. “There was no board in the beginning of the semester, so I don’t know who these students thought would be planning Homecoming at all let alone in advance this year.” 

And Wesley is small, unlike other nearby colleges. 

“We are not Delaware State University, so students need to realize that and stop trying to compare Wesley to DSU,” she said 

Junior Rakia Taylor said the lack of advertisement contributed to freshmen, and upperclassmen not showing up.  

“Nobody showed up, freshmen don’t come out, nobody advertises anymore, and a lot of people went home.” she said. “It should be promoted for at least two weeks, or a month in advance, not the week of.”  

Mark Berry, SAB adviser, said that they cannot force people to take advantage of opportunities. 

“Some events weren’t heavily attended,” he said. “We cannot force students to come.” 

And there was a reason promotion was later than it should have been, he said. 

“I do agree that there should have been more time to promote,” he said. “However, the reason why advertisements were released later than normal was because there were other student organizations that participated in planning in events that week, and we had to ensure all Homecoming events were listed on our advertisements.” 

Senior Jenerre Smith, president of Student Activities Board last year, said Homecoming isn’t as fun as it used to be. 

“It was not the best, if we are comparing it to the past,” she said. “I believe it wasn’t executed properly or could have been more creative. Most people left, and as more people are leaving the school, you can see that change in the events.”  

Senior Ashli Moore said that Homecoming this year was upsetting because students didn’t come out. 

“People complain that there’s nothing to do on campus, but people don’t come out to do anything,” she said.  Nothing was talked about this year until the week of. How do you expect people to come out to events if you’re giving people no time to prepare, especially for Homecoming.” 

Some students who have never experienced a previous Wesley Homecoming said they notice a dwindling school spirit.  

“It wasn’t a good week, they put a lot of things together, but no one showed up,” freshman Philip Hodgman said. “Homecoming was boring. At the party no one came or was dancing. They had laser tag, and barely anyone came to shoot.” 

Senior and SAB board member Kierra Whitaker said she wishes things had been better.  

“I just want to see more involvement with the students,” she said. “We can’t be half of what we used to be unless the engagement of students rises.”  

Adjei said it was planned as well as could be expected. 

“I agree that more time would have been great, but I wouldn’t say that it was not well planned,” she said. “The only issue was the pep rally, which didn’t work out in the end because of the artist we tried to get.”  

The SAB tried to get PnB Rock, a rap artist, but plans fell through after he was arrested and didn’t sign the final paperwork to appear.