Story By: KYLIE JORDAN
MONTEVALLO, Ala. — The University of Montevallo houses one of the oldest homecoming traditions in the United States. College Night is celebrated by students in February who compete in various intramural athletic events and theater performances. Students like Rachel Raiford share their passion for this night by encouraging students to find their home on a side and use College Night as another way for students to make history and get involved.
College Night is how the University of Montevallo celebrates homecoming. For over 120 years, two sides, Gold Side and Purple Side compete on Sweet Saturday to win either Gold Victory (GV) or Purple Victory (PV). Both sides are unique in their ways. Both have unique traditions and strategies to win College Night. Students spend months preparing to compete for their victory. College Night presents many opportunities for every student to get involved. Regardless of classification or major, College Night is for you.
Rachel Raiford is a junior Mass Communications major who has been involved in College Night since her freshman year. Raiford has been interested in College Night since the beginning. “It was one of the main things that drew me to the University,” Raiford says. Getting involved with College Night was fairly easy for Raiford and gave her a new passion. Raiford easily got involved with College Night after a sorority sister who was involved with Gold Side cheer urged Raiford to try out. She has been involved with Gold Side cheer and made her way up the ranks, where she now holds the position of Head Cheer for Gold Side.
When asked about her favorite part of College Night, Raiford highlights all of Sweet Saturday. Sweet Saturday is the day of the men’s basketball game, where Raiford gets to perform her Gold Side cheer routine at halftime. “We get to do our cheer routine during halftime of the basketball game and then see Purple Side’s cheer routine as well,” Raiford says. The College Night show follows the basketball game. She says, “We will all go back and get ready in our fancy little clothes and we will go to the main performances of the College Night show.” She claims to circle up and sing the Gold Side song as, “one of my favorite things about being a Gold.” On the night of the College Night show, Gold Side sings the sentinel version of their Gold Side Song. This is a slower, less rowdy version of their usual Gold Side song.
Gold Side cheer holds a special place in Raiford’s heart. Something she was hesitant about trying at first, Raiford now treasures it as another one of her favorite parts of College Night. One of the things she loves most about Gold Side cheer is the halftime performance on Sweet Saturday. Raiford says, “I love to choreograph routines, and I get to do that with one of my best friends Jacob, who is my assistant cheer.” She loves getting to teach the routine to her team and receive their feedback to make their experience on the cheer team the most enjoyable. “Building a routine and getting to perform it in front of the whole side. That’s awesome,” Raiford says.
Raiford wants to let students know that there are opportunities to join Gold Side cheer. Gold Side cheer is having tryouts the week after Thanksgiving Break over the span of three days. There are two days to learn the tryout routine and one day where you perform it for Raiford and her assistant, Jacob. Practice starts two weeks after the beginning of the spring semester. They will practice then, up until the day of Sweet Saturday. Raiford says, “It’s a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun at the same time.”
Within College Night, there are many leadership opportunities. Both Gold Side and Purple Side have cabinets that help govern each side to ensure the best path to victory. Both sides have two leaders and a secretary. From there, the leadership positions differ between sides. On Gold Side, there are other leadership opportunities for athletics, lyricists, conductors, technical, and cheer. Raiford says, “Anything you can think of that goes into a theater show there is a position for that.” For those leadership positions, there are head and assistant sub-positions. For athletics, it is split into head and assistant positions for men and women’s athletics. Alongside Head Cheer, Raiford also holds a cabinet position of assistant PR.
There are opportunities for people to get involved in College Night based on their major. It is evident in theater and technical majors, but there are opportunities for people with differing majors. “If you were a technical theater major or a voice major or something like that, that’s a great way to get involved,” says Raiford. “I know Gold Side has a business position. So we have head business, so like if you were a business major that is something you can do.”
There are many other ways to get involved in College Night, whether it is your first year on campus or you have not found ways to participate. Raiford says, “I would say find one person, whether it be a leader, someone on cabinet, or just someone you know is a Purple or a Gold. I’d say just go to them and talk to them about it.” There are multitudes of people on campus who are involved in College Night already. “You probably have a friend, more than likely you have at least one friend that’s involved in College Night,” Raiford says. She encourages anyone who is wanting to choose a side to find one person who is on either Purple Side or Gold Side, and ask them about their experience with Colleg Night. Then, talk to another person on the opposite side about their experiences. Raiford thinks it is important to get a feel for what both sides are like. “All of your friends may be on Purple side, but you really may fit in better on Gold Side,” Raiford explains. She says it is about finding your home and a place you feel you fit in. Once you determine that, Raiford says, “You can just be a supporter. GV supporter, PV supporter, whatever, and then you can slowly start to get involved.” This is a similar path to the one Raiford followed her freshman year. “It ended up being the best two months ever,” Raiford says.
If you are not convinced, Raiford explains one of the main benefits of joining a side and becoming involved in College Night. “There’s this whole different diverse group of people that you can get to know that you might not have met otherwise,” Raiford says. “Because being involved in just one thing and not trying to get involved in anything else, that can kind of close you off to another culture on campus that you can be a part of. You can meet a whole new group of people, make new connections, and network.” Another incentive is the main goal of College Night, winning. Raiford says, “If you like winning, there’s always something to win. Whether it be an athletics game, or main College Night show, or whole GV, PV, whatever as a whole.”
This College Night season, Raiford is looking forward to the College Night show. “Obviously I’m looking forward to choreographing a routine with my team and getting to perform that, but I am looking forward to the show,” Raiford says. Gold Side won last year, so this is Gold Side’s GV2 year. If Gold Side win again, that means they have back-to-back wins. Raiford says, “I think that would be amazing because I love winning and I love being a part of Gold Side. The feeling of winning last year was exhilarating and I want to feel that every year that I am on cabinet.”
College Night is special to everyone who participates at the University of Montevallo. To Raiford, she calls College Night “one of the best competitions I have ever been a part of.” College Night is full of competitions, both big and small. Raiford has always played sports and has always been competitive, but she thinks of College Night “like one really big competition but with your best friends.” Working towards the same goal and working together the best you can while still supporting the other side is something valuable to Raiford. She reflects on College Night as a whole by saying “I think both sides recognize that we need each other to have a successful College Night. I just love that it brings the campus community together. It means love and happiness and GV.”
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