The Wichita State University Alumni Association’s ambitious homecoming project is back again, and they have decided to go even bigger with a week of activities celebrating Shocker pride.

Ashlee Baysinger, assistant director of Student and Young Alumni Relations, said the idea is to boost campus pride. 

“We just feel that Shocker spirit just needs to be the main theme for this year’s homecoming,” she said. “Just to bring Shocker spirit back to Wichita State.”

The association plans on having an entire week’s worth of activities on campus to celebrate. The first event is campus decorations, which departments and student groups have been encouraged to enter in.

Starting today and going on through Friday, students can also vote for homecoming king and queen. 

The candidates, who were chosen last semester by undergraduates, will participate in a variety of activities during the week to allow students to meet them.

The first of these activities is a watch party at 7:05 p.m. for Tuesday’s men’s basketball game at the Fox & Hound restaurant at 13th and Webb streets. “The royalty will be there and they will be giving everybody black and gold beads as they walk in,” Baysinger said.

Thursday’s Shocking Nearly Naked Run is a philanthropic event for Goodwill Industries.

“People will come and they will be layered up and they will donate the clothes. The student organization that donates the most clothes will get a pizza party,” Baysinger said.

The event starts at 9:15 p.m. in parking lot five by the soccer field for stretching and donations with the actual run starting at 9:45 p.m. The one-mile run will be followed with a pancake feed at the Heskett Center. Students are encouraged to be creative with their dressing but stay within city ordinances.

“It’s another way to have them meet people… They’ll get to mingle in with each other,” Baysinger said.

All student groups are encouraged to come. Runners will not need to pre-register and non-students are allowed to participate.

Friday’s “Bras for a Cause” event will be held at the women’s basketball game in Charles Koch Arena. Students are encouraged to decorate women’s bras and cheer on the team. The royalty candidates will be there as well to join in the activities.

“The royalty are actually designing their own bras, and I think some of them are going to model them, but I know they are all going to decorate a bra for the cause,” Baysinger said.

The homecoming event ends on Saturday at the men’s basketball game with the coronation of the candidates for king and queen during halftime. 

One other event receiving little attention is the secret hunt for hidden stuffed animals on campus. Two panthers and two bears will be hidden on campus somewhere near Perimeter Road each day. Baysinger said the stuffed animals will be outside and not in the construction area. There will be prizes for those who find them.

The goal for the week is to help give students something exciting to do, Baysinger said. 

“It’s a way for them to kind of get out of that daily funk. We’ve already been in school for two weeks and this third week we want to give them something to look forward to every day, so every day is going to be a little bit different,” she said.