Elmhurst University celebrated Homecoming 2026, as well as the first official weekend of fall, with perfect weather and a packed schedule of events and activities for the whole Bluejay community.
In the days leading up to Homecoming weekend (Sept. 25-26), the campus got into the spirit with games, treats and contests for the students. On Friday, Sept. 25, the women’s volleyball team played—and won—two Homecoming games, followed by alumni gatherings and reunions, and the Athletics Hall of Fame induction dinner.
At the 50-Year Club reunion and dinner honoring the Class of 1976, President Troy D. VanAken shared campus updates with the group before taking them back to their graduation year, when the country was celebrating its bicentennial anniversary, the Apple Computer Company was founded, and a cup of coffee cost a quarter. On campus, then-Elmhurst College was celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Speech Clinic, and Elmhurst had hired its first full-time women’s coach to build the women’s athletic programs.
Later that evening, music and theatre students showcased their talents in “Forever Friendships: A Homecoming Cabaret,” and a rousing pep rally and bonfire celebrated student-athletes on all the fall sports teams.
The next morning, the music department held a Homecoming Showcase Concert with performances by the Concert Choir, Orchestra and Wind Ensemble in Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel, while tailgating and the Bluejay Block Party got underway in the Alexander parking lot.
New to the party this year was Elmhurst’s inaugural Bluejay Gameday, a high-energy program that got fans into the Bluejay spirit leading up to the big football game against Augustana College. Emceed by students, the program featured interviews with Head Football Coach Mike Heffernan ’07 and four head coaches from the spring sports programs, a Name That Player Coaches Challenge, performances by the poms and cheer squads, and Are You Smarter Than a College Professor?, a trivia contest pitting three students against Assistant Professor of Business Bob Vevang, which Courtneye Schneider ’28 won.
Alumnus Dr. Bruce Peoples ’78 marveled at it all. A founding member of the Elmhurst chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate fraternity established for African American men, he didn’t attend many Homecomings as a student—too busy studying in A.C. Buehler Library, which at the time had a section that was open all night, he said. So he was happy to join the tailgate hosted by his fraternity, which was celebrating the chapter’s 50th anniversary.
“I think this is wonderful,” said Peoples, an internist in Chicago. “This is so important, for the students to get inspired by the other brothers who went to Elmhurst and have gone on to success in their career and life.”
For the 50th anniversary celebration, Quincy Banks ’00 helped to create an impressive “walk-in museum,” which was set up in their tailgating area. Inside the temporary museum were images and artifacts documenting the chapter’s history, from its inception in 1976 to its growth over the years and achievements by fraternity members.
Banks has been tailgating with his Alpha Phi Alpha brothers for the past decade, and has been attending Homecoming with them for even longer.
“I know we’re smaller than some other schools, but we do what we do, and do it well,” he said. “I always tell people Elmhurst is the best—the best in the world.”