On Friday, Oct. 18, at 6 p.m. the Homecoming parade will weave its way through the heart of East Lansing and MSU's campus for approximately one and a half miles. More information about the parade can be found on the Alumni website.

The festivities will end on Saturday when MSU football will take on the University of Iowa for the Homecoming football game at 7:30 p.m. at Spartan Stadium.

Communications manager for MSU Alumni marketing and communications Megan Cunningham is looking forward to the parade for its expression of Spartan spirit. She loves to see Spartans come back just for the celebration.

"(The parade) is always an unforgettable experience," Cunningham said. “It’s a tradition that dates back a long time now and it’s an honor to continue it every year and see how it grows.”

Cunningham encourages participation and recommends heading to Hannah Community Center, where the parade will start. There will be gift bags, snacks and little basketballs signed by this year’s Grand Marshal, Sam Vincent. The parade will feature a Spartan Marching Band performance as well as local high school bands, Zeke the Wonderdog and this year’s homecoming court.

Being on Homecoming court is an honored tradition showcasing the community involvement of seniors at MSU. To be on court the applicants went through a process of applications and interviews, after which 11 were ultimately selected.

Tazira Amin, Kailyn Butler, Erin Caldwell, Jerome Hamilton Jr., Mahak Keswani, Connor Le, Sanaye Lewis, Niya Patel, Abigail Rodriguez, James Suggitt and Lily Wenkel make up this year's Homecoming court.

These Spartans are honored to be a part of court, and it means something different for each of them. Neuroscience senior Kailyn Butler is proud to be a representative for another community she’s apart of: the community of African American females in the college of Lyman Briggs.

"(I was) struggling to find someone who looks like me within Briggs to look up to," Butler said. "Now I get to be that person for other young Black girls within Briggs who are younger than me."

History and political science senior Connor Le is ready to represent the Spartan community on the field at the football game. He said he is proud to show that Spartans can do anything.

"Something I've always taken to heart ever since I’ve came to MSU is the phrase 'Spartans Will,'" Le said. "Although it’s a very small sentence, I think it holds a lot of weight because Spartans really can achieve the most impossible feats if they really put their minds to it."

Soon Butler, Le and other Homecoming court members will be joining the alumni community and celebrating Homecoming wherever they end up. For Spartans who can’t quite make it, Le loves the Glow Green tradition. Glow Green invites Spartans in East Lansing, Lansing and anywhere else in the world to put a green lightbulb on their porch.

"I think that it’s a very small thing, having a green light bulb on," Le said. "But, at the end of the day when you walk through campus or walk into the neighborhoods on Grand River and you see all the green lights, it’s a very beautiful thing."

Though Butler is excited to join the alumni community, she will never forget the days she has cherished on campus and encourages other Spartans to appreciate them while they’re here.

"Take it one step at a time and soak it all in because it’ll end just like that when you’re a senior and you graduate," Butler said. "Soak up the days where you’re stressed about exams and crying about it with your friends to celebrating getting a good grade on an exam, football games, soak up every side of everything because it goes by so fast."