Students and alumni celebrated 2019 Homecoming weekend through various events and activities. Among these, the traditional football tailgate saw the engagement of social clubs and other organizations from across Harding's campus. For women's social club Ko Jo Kai (KJK), the tailgate provided an opportunity to celebrate a special anniversary. KJK commemorated their 80th year as a club with a birthday partythemed tailgate. Complete with a cake and decorations, current students and alumni gathered to remember their time in the club. Senior Ava Galyean, president of KJK, explained how the tailgate brought their club together in the sense of a "family reunion." "For me, I love that we're one of the oldest girls' clubs on campus; I think that's really cool," Galyean said. "Our club motto is universal friendship and appreciation for life, and I think that's something that I see is still true in the club today, and it really is just a big sisterhood. I have older cousins and friends and family members who were in the club, and we all love it for the same reasons -- for the friendships that we have built through the club." Sophomore Jewel Gilbert, a member ofKJK, helped plan the tailgate. She said they started planning the 80th birthday party theme in spring 2019. She especially enjoyed the ladybug dessert competition. Current and former members of women's social club Ko Jo Kai mingle during their Homecoming tailgate Oct. 19, 2019, at Bison Park. The club celebrated Bo years of sisterhood with a birthday-themed gathering. I photo by Jillian Jarvis "We had a dessert contest for the members, and it was ladybug-themed desserts, and they all had the alumni judge it based off of creativity and taste, and whoever won got $20 off of our semi[formal]," Gilbert said. Tish Elrod, a sponsor for KJK, said she enjoyed seeing the club bond -- not only with members, but between friends of members as well. "It was just a fun time," Elrod said. "There were even people that would come as alumni that were in some of the other clubs, but they hung out with Kojies. We would end up with people that I remembered from ... 30 years ago that would come around." Galyean said the sisterhood of the club was her favorite part of being involved. "It was so neat to see all these different generations of women, but we all had this bond and something we could talk about," Galyean said. "Just to see that our club, and our tradition, and the friendships and the sisterhood has withstood the test of time [was meaningful]." story by Abigail Rezentes social clubs 63
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