The Office of International Services and Education and the International Student Association are working on increasing international student involvement in homecoming this semester by entering a non-competitive float in the parade.

In past years, international students have not actively participated in homecoming, Suzanne McKinney said. McKinney is the assistant director of International Programming for International Services at Southeast Missouri State University. Part of the reason for this, according to McKinney, is that the students do not fully understand what homecoming is.

"It's a weird concept to them," McKinney said.

Some of the international students have yet to go to an American football game, which is a big focus for many students, whether they are there to play or cheer.

Another highlight of homecoming is the parade. Fraternities, sororities and some other campus organizations spend a lot of time creating floats to enter in the yearly competition. Orphee Ondo, an international graduate student from Gabon, Africa, was unclear of what a float was, let alone a parade, until he looked up a video on YouTube.

Along with not knowing what a traditional American parade is like, not all international students have heard about homecoming.

"Being frank and specific, I don't even know what homecoming is," Ashraful Alam Shoron said.

Shoron is a second semester student at Southeast. Part of this lack of understanding could be due to the poor advertisement to international students for homecoming. Many international students do not have the time to go looking for specific activities, they are going to college in a completely foreign place which takes up a lot amount of their time, Ondo said. Fraternities, sororities and other organizations know about the event, because there is typically at least one person in that organization that has been to and involved in homecoming before, and can show new members what to do and hopefully tell them the history behind the organizations involvement.

Ondo feels that entering the float in the parade can help promote international student involvement in campus-wide events such as homecoming, as well as promote International Student Association. Ondo, who is the president of International Student Association would like for the float to represent all international student organizations, to bring about collaboration of the organizations. Participation in homecoming this year could help with international student participation in years to follow.

The participation could also help students to get a grasp of what homecoming is, and why it is such a big deal for other students, for the alumni, and even for community members who all show up to the homecoming parade and game.