Nearly 4,500 alumni, family members, students, staff and volunteers visited Aldrich Park to celebrate Homecoming with an extravaganza of singing, dancing, food trucks, fireworks and a 50-foot Ferris wheel on March 1.
The event, hosted by the UCI Alumni Association, brought alumni and current undergraduate and graduate students together to network, reminisce and encourage support for the school.
The day was filled with pre-festival events, gatherings and receptions at various respective schools before the main festival and the Men’s Basketball game against Long Beach State.
Homecoming brought together folks from all sides of campus and across the city of Irvine with booths for different schools, clubs, organizations and more. Multiple dance and musical performances took place on two stages placed at opposite ends of the park. Rachel Graves, a third-year psychology student and digital marketing media assistant for the Alumni Association, said that the live karaoke band was one of this year’s highlights.
“The live karaoke band has been a super, super fun part of the event because last year we had super, super awesome performers, but I feel like this gives everyone a chance to actually have that performance on stage, which I feel like no one really ever gets to do,” Graves told New University. “It’s been super awesome.”
First-year psychological sciences student Lakarah Vance said singing at home with her family inspired her to take action when she saw the sign-up sheet to perform. With a big smile and purple-ish blue face paint, Vance belted Rihanna’s “Love on the Brain” to a crowd of cheering audience members.
“It’s nice to see that [alumni] can come back to their school and see that there’s so many students still doing cool things,” Vance told New University.
Under the Paul Merage School of Business tent, alumni enjoyed exclusive buffet-style dining fit with hot dogs, pasta salad, fresh fruit and drinks. Current students and alums chatted about their time at UCI while connecting with old friends. Alumnists Leda Quiros-Weed, Carolyn Brothers, Rich Heller and Brenda Ward sat together, laughing and reminiscing about their time at UCI.
Quiros-Weed graduated in 1977 with an undergraduate degree in Spanish, then obtained her master’s in marketing from the Paul Merage School of Business in 1985. She is one of the founding members of the UCI Gamma Phi Beta sorority chapter and plans on retiring from her career in consulting soon.
Brothers graduated with a psychology degree in 1978 and received her education credentials in 1980. She was a founding member of UCI’s Alpha Chi Omega sorority chapter. Brothers and Quiros-Weed met in a dance class after graduating and have been close friends ever since. Both wanted to share some advice for current undergraduates.
“You stick to it, enjoy your time. Get as involved as possible in anything and everything,” Brothers told New University. “Go outside your comfort zone and try new things.”
Quiros-Weed also contributed her thoughts.
“I would say, as a human resource person who has seen a bazillion resumes for positions, don’t worry what your GPA is. Just learn, learn everything that you can learn,” Quiros-Weed said. “GPA is subjective, it’s not objective, and nobody cares what your GPA was. They care what you bring to the table, so your skills are way more important than what you’ve got academically.”
Heller, a 1986 chemistry graduate, chimed in with his advice.
“I would just enjoy the journey afterwards. It doesn’t have to be what you think it’s going to be, you don’t have to do what’s in your major per se — it may be something totally different, and that’s fine,” Heller said.
Ward, another friend at the table, graduated from UCI with a biological sciences degree in 1980 and currently works in cancer research. From time to time, she travels to universities as a speaker to encourage biological sciences students to stick with their major despite the challenges.
“Enjoy your life in college,” Ward said. “Make sure to come back as an alum. Don’t forget your roots.”
Attendees gathered around the center stage for the pep rally before the Bren Events Center doors opened for the basketball game. The UC Irvine Anteater Band opened the ceremony with a rendition of UCI’s “You Don’t Want to Go to War with the ‘Eaters.”
Two representatives from the Associated Students of UC Irvine then took to the stage to introduce the nominees for Homecoming Court. Candidates were chosen if they “display[ed] the diversity, talent and excellence that is representative of UCI’s student body” and embodied what it means to be an Anteater.
The 2025 candidates were biological sciences student Haley Bendorf, anthropology and sociology student Angel Lobaton and business administration student Mihir Vaishampayan.
Lobaton was crowned the winner.
“It feels so great. Honestly, I’m so happy. I’m so thankful. It feels very full circle,” Lobaton told New University. “I’ve done a lot of things here and it feels nice. For example, I work for SPOP [and] I hope that the people at work can see what they can do in their four years here.”
Afterward, UCI’s Spirit Squad welcomed Men’s Basketball assistant coach Michael Wilder to the stage for his pre-game speech where he recounted his history with the team, pumped the audience up for the night’s game and shouted out the seniors who would be playing their last game of the regular season.
UCI’s Antourage, the volunteer-based student section cheering squad, said that a pre-game event such as Homecoming helps rally students and build support for the team.
“Having face paint and tattoos really gets people more hyped, because they can show their school spirit and not just make noise,” Antourage member Natalie Peplow told New University.
After speeches were made, Wilder led the crowd into one final “Zot! Zot! Zot!” before fireworks erupted behind the stage. As the explosions faded, thousands of alumni and current students followed the Spirit Squad to the Bren and watched the Anteaters take a 70-60 win against Long Beach State.
Annia Pallares zur Nieden is a Features Intern for the winter 2025 quarter. She can be reached at anniap@uci.edu.
Edited by Sofia Feeney.