Aggies will be Rockin’ With Pride at the 2008 New Mexico State University Homecoming celebration Oct. 26 through Nov. 2.

“Homecoming is a time to celebrate and ‘Connect and Reconnect’ the bonds between old and new NMSU friends,” says Ermelinda Quintela ’86 ’88 ’94, executive director of the NMSU Alumni Association. “We have a fun theme this year that should allow creativity for the students, alumni, departments and others.”

Homecoming starts with an NMSU Men’s Golf Team Tournament Oct. 27 and 28 and concludes with a new event, a Homecoming Golf Tournament Nov. 2.

The Danny Villanueva Scholarship Breakfast will be held at 7:30 a.m. Oct. 30 and the Bonfire and Pep Rally, which includes a fireworks display, will start at 7 p.m. that evening.

Oct. 31 will be Crimson Day and the Distinguished Alumni Dinner will be held from 5 to 7 that evening. This is a change from previous years.

“We changed the distinguished alumni event from a breakfast to a dinner to allow more alumni, faculty, staff and students the opportunity to attend the event. This also will allow those being honored as distinguished alumni to attend the parade Saturday morning,” Quintela says.

The Homecoming Parade will be at 10 a.m. Nov. 1 and will be followed by the Alumni and Friends Tailgate Party at 1 p.m. The Aggie football team will take on Boise State at 5 p.m.

“Homecoming week will be filled with events for Aggies of all ages,” Quintela says. “This is an opportunity to take future Aggies on a tour of campus, and there are many game day activities for kids.”

This year’s featured reunions include the classes of 1948, 1958 and 1968, but Quintela says the Alumni Association encourages all different types of groups to host reunion events during Homecoming. Last year there were a variety of different reunion events including an alumni swim competition, a PSL janitors’ reunion, an ASNMSU presidents’ reunion and an engineering alumni reunion.

“Alumni enjoy celebrating the successes of fellow alumni,” Quintela says.

To sponsor a reunion for your group or reserve your spot for this year’s activities, contact the alumni office at (575) 646-3616.

A full schedule of events is available at http://alum.nmsu.edu.