Homecoming brings students and seniors together

Tiger Tango brings generations together for the first Homecoming service event.

By Lindsay Eanet

Published Oct. 10, 2008

It's no secret college students can learn a lot from previous generations, but the students who participated in Tiger Tango probably weren't expecting to learn some killer dance moves.

Yet there was Columbia resident Denise Richardson, teaching a group of students the schottische while '50s hits like "The Twist" and "Great Balls of Fire" played.

"When you're 72 years old, you have to get out and have fun," Richardson said.

The Tiger Tango event, where senior citizens and MU students dance and mingle at the Columbia Area Senior Center, has been part of the service portion of Homecoming for several years.

And while some groups of seniors and students preferred to stay by the tables and chat, one team, Columbia resident Bob Edwards and MU sophomore Tiff Klaesner, spent most of the evening swing dancing on the floor.

"We were probably the first people out on the floor," Klaesner said. "We started the party. Bob taught me a lot of it. He taught me the waltz."

Homecoming Service Committee co-Chairwomen Katie Duff and Maria Loida said they made an effort this year to increase senior turnout.

"We've gone out to the senior center every day for the past week and a half during lunch time to try to rally up the crowd a little bit and promote the event," Duff said. "So we had a really good turnout on the senior side and it's always an amazing turnout on the student side."

Loida and Duff made invitations and handed them out to the seniors at lunch and talked to them about the event. One hundred students and 65 seniors attended.

As dinner, Gumby's Pizza and sandwiches from Sub Shop was served, prizes were raffled off to the seniors, including donated gift cards from Macaroni Grill and G&D Steakhouse and Homecoming T-shirts. The seniors were also treated to an appearance from Truman the Tiger.

Students could participate on behalf of a Greek organization, residence hall or other campus organization, such as a service fraternity.

Freshman Tucker Smith, a member of FarmHouse fraternity, said he was among 15 or 20 members who signed up for Tiger Tango, though only two members from each organization were required for the event.

"I just think it's a neat event," Smith said. "It's an excuse to come out and dance and associate with people, some alumni who have been around the university before. It's a pretty neat deal."

Smith said he had promised a dance to one of the seniors and was glad to be a part of the event.

"Being associated with Greek Life, I know everybody wants to win actual Homecoming," Smith said. "But in general, it's a lot more than first place, second place, whatever you call it. Things such as this where we can come out here and these seniors really appreciate us being out here."

Royalty candidate and Kappa Alpha Theta sorority member Lauren Zima said she enjoyed hearing the interesting stories from the seniors. A highlight for her was with a woman who had traveled to Africa and China and was recounting details of her trip.

The next service event is Tigers Taming Hunger, a community-wide canned food drive that takes place next week.

"I think the service events a lot of the time make the biggest impression on everyone and put a great face out for Mizzou and show people all the great things our students can do," Zima said.