From flip phones, lip gloss, lowrise jeans and big glasses, the 2000s were a time when trends thrived. Whether it was when Lady Gaga took the music industry by storm after releasing “Poker Face” or when the iPod was released, it was a defining time for people around the world.
Northwestern State University of Louisiana has traveled back to the 2000s with the University Programming Council’s (UPC) selection of the 2024 Homecoming theme of Y2K.
“A theme brings people together, it fosters a sense of community and it gets people excited,” Trevor O’Bannon, assistant director of student engagement, said. “It’s like, ‘okay — here’s the theme; let’s start brainstorming.”
Every spring semester, a UPC committee brainstorms ideas on what the next possible theme can be, and they start to ask about what themes students would like to see.
The committee then narrows down the options to about five or six possible themes and they make a poll so students can decide.
Involving students in decisions like this is fundamental for a successful homecoming week, as the events are meant for students to engage and participate in.
Terrell “TJ” Woodard Jr., a senior biology major, shared his thoughts on the homecoming theme this year.
“This theme has been very fun and effective; Y2K is something that is very trendy these days with fashion and stuff,” Woodard said. “I’ve enjoyed putting on the outfits with my friends.”
Listening and involving students’ voices is important for events like this to function. Allison Florez Bermudez, a senior majoring in communication, emphasized the importance of bringing back old trends.
“Homecoming is about bringing old students back, and the theme this semester goes perfect with that because many of those students probably had a homecoming in the 2000s. It’s like traveling back in time,” Bermudez said.
Sharye Belcher, a sophomore majoring in nursing, explained there was a wide variety of what Y2K meant to everyone on campus.
“From metallics to butterflies, there’s so much you can do with the theme,” Belcher said. “There’s literally so many ways you can represent the 2000s, and I feel like organizations did such a good job doing that when it came to the parade or the banners. Even with the t-shirt designs, everyone had a different take on what it meant.”
Belcher discussed how the Potpourri was inspired by the homecoming theme to incorporate some of the trends in a future yearbook.
“I mentioned that Haley Wiggins (Editor-in-Chief of the Potpourri) and I were thinking about how cool it would be to have a Y2K theme book and the different design elements that we could implement and the throwbacks we could reference,” Belcher said. “The book could be for 2025, like 25 years could be the perfect distance to do a throwback for the year 2000s, so that’s how the theme for our book evolved.”
Even if it’s just for homecoming week, a good and effective theme that speaks to everybody such as Y2K brought excitement to NSU and the surrounding community.
