ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ

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Podcast: S9 Ep. 28
Date: October 12, 2026
Title: Shamodre Green previews Homecoming Week 2026
Host: John Rollins

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JOHN ROLLINS: Welcome to the LU Moment, where we showcase all the great things happening with ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University faculty, staff, students, and alumni. I'm John Rollins, Associate Director of Community Relations and Public Affairs here at LU, and I want to welcome you all to this week's show. October is here, and around ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University, that means exciting things are on the horizon. Y'all know what time it is. Homecoming 2026 is right around the corner, and here with me today to tell us all about it, we've got Shamodre Green, coordinator of student organizations here at ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University. Shamodre, welcome to the show.

SHAMODRE GREEN: Thanks for having me. It's exciting to be here.

JOHN: So, Shamodre, how long have you been at ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ now?

SHAMODRE: I have been at ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ for six months, two weeks.

JOHN: Wow. Oh, okay. Down to the week. Okay. Paying attention. I like it. Well, fantastic. So we are obviously about to spend most of our time discussing ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ homecoming. It's coming up in a couple weeks. But before we dive into all that, let's have you introduce yourself to our listeners and our readers.

SHAMODRE: So again, I am Shamodre Green. I'm the student organization coordinator and a man of many hats here at ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ. I currently serve and help aid our student organizations to get them set up in our LU Hub system as well as answer all of those questions that they would need as far as the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, advisor. During my time in in my undergraduate studies, I graduated from Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana, with my bachelor's in psychology and criminal justice and my master's in sports administration. I'm currently pursuing my doctoral degree in education, student affairs at Liberty University. I will be done December 2028.

JOHN: So you're clearly into learning and education, right?

SHAMODRE: Yes, sir.

JOHN: So you're in a good environment, and you get to work with the students and promote that. You know, share that with them, right?

SHAMODRE: I’m in school, learning the job, but I'm actually applying the job while I'm learning it. So I think that's the great advantage of kind of being in that program and also working in student affairs.

JOHN: Yeah, get to put it into practice, right?

SHAMODRE: Yes.

JOHN: There you go, and then you'll have the well. You have two degrees, but you'll have three to match soon. Okay, so let's talk Homecoming. Everybody looks forward to this week every year in the fall, right? Every October, it's one of the most eventful, spirit-filled weeks here on campus. We invite faculty, staff, students, alumni, community, all to be a part of it. All the action that's going on that week. So, what can folks expect from Homecoming this year in 2026.

SHAMODRE: So Homecoming this year will be all the bells and whistles and all the good “rah rah” hooping and hollering. Yeah. So to kind of start us off, we do have our haunted house and fall carnival October 17. Traditionally, our engineering department they host a spectacular haunted house. So this year, our Cardinal Activities Board will be participating and joining with them to create a fall carnival. So in this fall carnival, you can have the opportunity to go to your pumpkin, get your pumpkins from your pumpkin patch, carve your pumpkins, make little trinkets. We're going to have candy apples out there. We're going to have a lot little field games, the mechanical bull. So it's a fall carnival. So we want you to be scared at the haunted house, but then come have a good time with your friends at the fall carnival. So this will again be October 17 in our Cherry Engineering building and the fall carnival will take place in our dining hall lawn next to that. After that, Homecoming kicks off the 19th through the 24th long stretch. Have those energy drinks and water ready.

JOHN: Get prepared now, y'all.

SHAMODRE: So to kick us off for Homecoming on the 19th, we have our bonfire, which is our traditional bonfire. This year, our Greek life organizations will be hosting that. They have is ready already, starting to stack the pile of wood to get it prepped. So there, of course, we have our food trucks. We're going to have vendors, and then we'll be announcing the Homecoming Court. They will have their showcase there as well too. Following after that, which is the 20th, that Tuesday, we plan on having a throwback silent disco party. So we want you to come with your throwback jerseys, your throwback attire. We're looking for the early 90s, 2000s, but if we want to go back to the 70s and 80s. Let's throw it all the way back. Yes, sir. Following that, our Wednesday, which will be our Greek Life Night. So our Greeks are celebrating 75 years here at ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University. So they will be hosting and doing a couple of things that day, as well as our Hump Night with our NPHC Council. They will be hosting their annual Hump Night. From that, we’ve got a lot of stuff going on. Then Thursday we have our hypnotist or magician that will be coming with our Cardinal Craze as well. So Cardinal Craze, you know, you come get your street signs, your yard signs, your customized T-shirts. You'll be able to create your Homecoming mum, as well as we will have a little side chat of complete the lyrics. Our Cardinal Activities Board that will be going around selecting students around our Setzer Center, asking them to complete the lyric of a song. If they're able to complete the lyric, they'll have the opportunity to win a customized, personalized Homecoming trinket.

JOHN: Okay, that's fun. I like.

SHAMODRE: And then after that, we’re still going, you guys. We will have our Homecoming concert where this year we will be hosting a country artist as well as a hip hop artist, so be on the lookout for that. And then to end it all, the end all will be our Homecoming tailgate and our Homecoming game. This year, we asked our colleges to participate in Homecoming. So this year, the College of Engineering will be celebrating 75th anniversary as well too during our tailgate during Homecoming. So they will have all the bells and whistles, food vendors, yard games, blow house, jump house, yo house, all the house. It will all be outside for you, and then of course we want you to come watch our LU Cardinals win the game at the game. So those are all of our activities and things that we are, and we have a little hit and some activities. I can't give you all the good stuff. Right, right. So we do have a lot of special pop-ups and surprises that we have going on during Homecoming as well too.

JOHN: Well, you mentioned Cardinal Activities Board a couple of times during your overview that you just gave of the week. Do you want to explain kind of to everybody what Cardinal Activities Board does here on campus? Because I know you work pretty closely with them.

SHAMODRE: Yes, sir. So our Cardinal Activities Board is our engagement. This is how we program and make sure our all of our students, not necessarily needs, but more so enjoyment is met. College is more of just academics. It's also making those long-term connections on that networking opportunities, as well as finding that sense of belonging. And so, our Cardinal Activities Board they host and program events to target those needs and targets those wants. So we do open polls with the students to ask them what do you want to see for Homecoming or what events you want to see. So our Cardinal Activities Board they host our bingo nights, they host our silent disco nights. They host our casino nights. They host the patio nights. They host a lot. A lot of fun stuff. And again, this is to make sure that you have that walk away from the classroom. You have that breath of fresh air where you can relax, have a good time, and be around your friends. And again, create new friends because that's what college is for-to network, communicate, and get to again have those long-lasting networks and opportunities.

JOHN: Yeah, well, social interaction is so important, and you know, y'all really target all students, whether they live in the residence halls, which is what we call our dorms here, right? Or if they're commuter students, you still want them to know of the opportunities that are available, and that's where Cardinal Activities Board or CAB, as y'all call it, comes into play. So, so do you want to elaborate a little more on your role here on campus, and we can kind of touch on that. We'll go over the Homecoming details again, and then we'll kind of wrap up.

SHAMODRE: Okay. Yes, sir. So again, I'm the student organization coordinator. So I mostly handle the operations of our student organizations, and I'm also the accountant. So here at ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University, we do allocate fundings for our student organizations on their on-campus events, their educational travel, as well as promotional items, and this is to help support those organizations to program and to be out in our students to grab them, not to only increase their involvement but also increase their membership through our student organizations. So I host training workshops, clinics, one on one. Phone calls, emails, all the things, just to make sure that our student organizations have all of those resources that they need to be successful. Currently, I can announce we do have 205 organizations enrolled here at ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University, which is a huge step and which is a huge accomplishment and goal of mine when I came to the office to see that 200 number, and I can confirm that we have 205 organizations currently enrolled here at ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University, and all of them are programming and active.

JOHN: Wow!

SHAMODRE: So that means my office is flooded every day, all night. I get 11:00 emails, midnight emails.

JOHN: You wouldn't have it any other way, right?

SHAMODRE: I wouldn't have it any other way because, again, this is something that a little bit more about my background. I also was a part of student organizations when I was in undergrad. I was the president of five student organizations in one academic semester, so I had the opportunity to balance and juggle not only one constitution but five. So it looked different from each and every organization because though we do serve the same purpose and goal, but all of our organizations are different and unique amongst themselves, so I had to deal with a lot of different personalities. So dealing with that, it kind of gave me the experience, but it also lit a passion in me to do it on a higher level in higher education. So my experience and my why is why I go so hard now to make sure all of our student organizations have those resources. Even if you have questions, like I always tell my student always, "Hey, I'm an open-door policy. It's always open. You can email me, call me.” Don't call me at night, but you call me during these hours.

JOHN: Right, call me during these hours because they will. If you tell them, hey, you can call me. They will most definitely call you at 10, 12 o’clock at night and say, hey, hard cut off. I need help trying to sort this event. Oh, yeah. But we are still here, and I answer those for them.

JOHN: Yeah. No, I love that, and I love that you you've experienced it from both sides, from the student organization side as well as the staff side, so we need those types of roles here on campus. So thank you for filling that for our students. Absolutely. So I want to ask you this: You're still pretty new to ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ, six months, right? Or to the ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ experience, I should say. So what has been your favorite part of being a Cardinal so far?

SHAMODRE: Oh my gosh! I would have to say my colleagues. I would truly say working here at ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ has been a huge blessing and a huge reward. Every day, this group of well, I would call family because we're very family oriented. Oh yeah, brother, sister, mom, dad, auntie, uncle-you have-it's a very family vibe. It is very family-oriented, and I'm a huge elephant collector. So during the week of my birthday, mind you, I'm still new. I got a new elephant every day until my birthday, and on my birthday, I received three new elephants.

JOHN: Okay, explain what you mean by elephants. What elephant figurines?

SHAMODRE: Like the figurines, the little monuments. Because I collect them. As you see, I have one kind of on me now. Yeah, see it. I have a necklace, and in my office, you will kind of see them stationed around. But in my home, that's where they're housed. So it all started with my grandmother when I was 10 years old. She gave me an elephant, and my favorite animal is elephants. So ever since then, I kind of had a collection of them. And once my coworkers start picking up on it and saying you collect elephants. They really give me an elephant. They'll buy me random food. Hey, we going for lunch? You need anything? No. Well, we're going to get you some anyway.

JOHN: I'll tell you, that's not common in every workplace.

SHAMODRE: You know, it's not. And I've worked at other institutions where I didn't have that. I felt very secluded and siloed by myself. So to come to an institution where it's hey no we want you here we need you here what can we do to keep you here is something that I  tell them every day I am eternally grateful to have this opportunity to not only be here with the students because that's a that would be my second reason why I love it is the students to see them smiling see them bright eye ready to be engaged ready to be involved asking those complicated questions. Challenging me to go beyond what I thought was best practice to find new ways to increase initiatives and increase program for our students.

JOHN: So let's wrap up really quick. You know, let's go over Homecoming details one last time: date, time, location. Give us all the good info, and then we'll go ahead and sign off.

SHAMODRE: Yes, sir. So October 19, which will be our bonfire. That time will start at 7p.m. and it will be at Spindletop Boomtown Museum. Tuesday we’ll be hosting our silent disco within our Setzer Student Center, and that will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday will be our Greek Night, they will be hosting Hump Night at the Dining Hall Lawn. Thursday will be our Hypnotist Magician Magic Show that will be done in the Student Setzer Center as well too, and that will be at 7:00. And then Friday, which will be our Homecoming Concert, that will be at the Montagne Center. That will start at 9:00, and then to close us out, which is our tailgate, which will start at 12:00, and then our home game, which will be at 3:00, and that will be at the Provost Umphrey Center.

JOHN: Yep, there you go. And I do want to mention really quick before we wrap up a couple of community opportunities to get involved. We have a theater and dance production that begins that Thursday. It's called The Wonder in Alice, which is a version of Alice in Wonderland. We've got Big Red's Ride, which is a classic car show at Spindletop Boomtown Museum, 10 to 2 on Saturday, October 24, and then the Dishman Art Museum will be open from 10 to 4 with a free art exhibit open to the public. Shamodre, thanks again for joining me, for sharing your enthusiasm, and for all that you do across our campus to ensure that our students have the best experience here at ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ. Like I said, your role is so important, so thank you for all that you do.

SHAMODRE: Thanks for having me. Looking to see everybody, and most definitely looking to see our students and alumni.

JOHN: And we'll see them there on Saturday, October 24. You can visit lamar.edu/homecoming for all the information. That's a wrap on another episode. To catch the LU stories just like Shamodre's, be sure to search LU Moment wherever you get your podcasts to keep up with the events, activities, programs, and people right here at ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ University. This is John Rollins, your host. Thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.