IUP Homecoming Expected to Attract Thousands With Annual Parade, Reunions, Crimson Huddle, Football Game

Indiana University of Pennsylvania's annual Homecoming celebration on October 10 is expected to draw thousands to Indiana for alumni reunions and events for the entire community, including the annual parade and football game.

The Homecoming parade, with a theme of "America 250-Pennsylvania: Start Here, America Did!" will start at 10:00 a.m. on October 10. It will feature close to 90 campus and community units, including six floats by IUP fraternities, sororities, and student organizations:

• Industrial Revolution - Delta Phi Epsilon Sorority, Delta Zeta Sorority, Sigma Kappa Sorority, Theta Phi Alpha Sorority, Kappa Sigma Fraternity, and Sigma Chi Fraternity
• PA Turnpike from East to West - Alpha Sigma Alpha Sorority, Alpha Sigma Tau Sorority, Sigma Pi Fraternity, and Theta Chi Fraternity
• Hershey - Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority, Alpha Xi Delta Sorority, Kappa Delta Rho Fraternity, and Phi Delta Theta Fraternity
• American Flag - Delta Gamma Sorority, Sigma Sigma Sigma Sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority, Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity, and Phi Sigma Kappa Fraternity
• Declaration of Independence - IUP Ambassadors
• PA Wildlife - IUP Pre-Veterinary Club

Vehicles for the floats and dignitaries have been provided by a number of community members and businesses, including Delaney Auto Group and Penn Mechanical. Floats are being constructed at Mack Park.

The Alumni Association Board of Directors will be featured in the parade, along with Alumni Association Board President Mary Morgan, of Indiana, a 1991 graduate.

Morgan, a 2023 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award for Service, retired from a 30-year career at IUP that culminated with her role as assistant vice president for Alumni and Friends. She touched thousands of alumni in the course of her work, maintaining traditions and creating new and innovative ways for alumni to stay connected with IUP. She was largely responsible for the creation and growth of the IUP Ambassadors, IUP's award-winning student-alumni organization, now in its thirty-second year. This group of outstanding student leaders continues to serve as a link between prospective students, current students, administrators, faculty members, alumni, and friends of IUP, working to engage alumni and current students with campus life and make students more aware of their potential roles as IUP alumni.

The parade will start at 11th and Philadelphia streets and travel east to Sixth and Philadelphia streets, south on Sixth Street to Church Street, west on Church Street to Oakland Avenue, and southwest on Oakland Avenue to 11th Street, where the parade will disband. All motor-driven floats will continue southwest on Oakland Avenue to the Robertshaw building for disassembly.

Immediately following the parade, student volunteers from IUP's fraternity and sorority life will clean the parade route.

Four float prizes will be given: first prize of $1,000, sponsored by the IUP Alumni Association; second prize of $900, sponsored by Aramark; third place of $800, cosponsored by the Student Government Association and the offices of Student Leadership and Student Inclusion; and fourth prize of $700, sponsored by University Advancement.

Parade judges this year are Jonathan Smith, representing Indiana Borough Council; Sam Kenly, representing Downtown Indiana Inc.; Cate Planisky, community representative and 1993 IUP graduate; and Patricia Simmons of Indiana, a 1972 IUP graduate.

In addition to the IUP Marching Band, the parade will feature marching bands from area high schools: Indiana, Homer-Center, Marion Center, Penns Manor, Purchase Line, River Valley, and United/Black Lick Valley.

Now in its sixteenth year at IUP, the Crimson Court will take part in all university Homecoming activities, including the parade. The Crimson Court consists of students chosen by a university-wide vote to represent each of the colleges at IUP. To qualify for the court, students must have junior or senior standing, at least a 3.0 cumulative grade-point average and be in good judicial standing.

The 2026 Crimson Court is:

• Samira Boulkher, a nursing major from Dillsburg, representing the College of Health Sciences. Daughter of Ramatoulaye Mahamadou and Boulkher Samba, she is a 2023 graduate of Northern High School. A dean's list student, she received the Highmark Bright Blue Futures Scholarship, the Sutton Scholarship, and the African American Alumni Scholarship. She won a 2025 Leadership Award as a Resident Assistant for her work during the 2024-25 academic year, and a "Best Student Organization" Award during her presidency of the Pan African Student Association. She was selected to represent the Keeper of the Flame award event at the 2025 Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Summit, won the Omega Psi Phi 2025-26 Service Person of the Year award, and was nominated for the Thomas C. Segar Student of the Year award and for the National Society of Leadership and Success. In addition to her leadership of the Pan African Student Association, she is vice president of the Muslim Student Association and secretary of the URBN Dance Group. She is a member of Collegiate Women in Progress, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and HER Campus. Selected for the Crimson Scholars Circle, she serves as a peer mentor for the program. She volunteers for Whole Unity Incorporated and the IUP Haven Project. She was selected as a speaker for the 2026 IUP "The Journey Continues" Symposium, was a panelist for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Foundation initiative for diverse populations, was selected for a student focus group for the Career and Professional Development Center, and volunteered to be a guest reader for the Indiana Area School District's Black History Month program.