Nicolas Nelson, a junior at SDSU, said he is most looking forward to the energy expected to fill the room. However, he said he is apprehensive because he is one of two students from SDSU officially participating in the show.

“I have only met a few of the performers and I am considered the new kid,” he said.

The drag show is expected to provide GSA the opportunity to network, make connections and form bonds with other colleges.

Joshua Sulloway, a junior at SDSU, said many students were showing a lot of interest in drag shows and that led to a student vote, which then resulted in the planning of the drag show.

“There is so much that has to be done [to put on the drag show]. The contacting of drag queens, behind-the-scenes work and notifying the UPD and Brookings police department are just a few things that need to be taken care of,” he said.

After the drag show, the participants will be walking around the Brookings downtown area in their outfits and the use of the UPD and the Brookings police is mainly a safety precaution.

There is the misconception that the GSA drag show is similar to Hobo Day’s Miss Homelycoming, when in fact that is not the case.

“Miss Homelycoming is thought of as more of a joking matter, while the drag lifestyle and show are more culturally based,” Sulloway said. “Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Miss Homelycoming, but you can hardly compare the two shows.”

There has been very little opposition to the GSA drag show. In fact, Sulloway said he and the rest of the GSA are receiving the opposite response. However, Sulloway is not ruling out any opposition before the performance, and is keeping a watchful eye out for participants. 

The new Yeager Hall television studio is nearly complete. It started last November and it has been

(Photo by Emma Diercks)

quite an undertaking. Mary Arnold, the head of the Journalism and Mass Communications Department, said the project has been in the works for almost 10 years.

“The project of the TV station has been quite the undertaking because this project has been at least five years in the making,” Matt Cecil, a professor of journalism, said. “These types of projects are rarely successful without the support of the community as well as the university.”

In the past the journalism department had its television studio in Pugsley Hall, but had to shut it down because the funds to support it were no longer available. SDSU has been very flexible in the construction of the new studio.

Cecil said the funding for the new television studio was not that big of an issue.

“The Yeager family was a major contributor to the journalism department. They donated approximately $20.2 million to the building, which lead to the naming of Yeager Hall,” Arnold said.

Arnold has many positive feelings about the studio. She said it expands the capability to give students the state-of-the-art skill sets they need that were not available without the existence of the new studio.

The studio already has several uses, and since the journalism department is no longer using Pugsley Hall the studio will broadcast three television programs including, On Call, The Jackrabbit Insider, a weekly sports show, and the extension service program: iGrow.

The studio will also be used as an education tool.

“The completion of the project will make the department more comprehensive and it will allow students to gain very valuable experience that they may not gain anywhere else,” Cecil said.

The construction of the station has been delayed several times, but this hasn’t stood in the way of progression on the project.

“The construction team has been working around the clock, and this week they are installing the carpeting. After everything is completed it will take approximately four to six weeks to get everything moved in and set up properly and then hopefully will be ready to go without any complications,” Cecil said.

Abby Settje has been chosen as Grand Pooba for the 100th Hobo Day celebration. (Photo by ReAnn Arcand)

Settje said she is feeling very excited and anxious for some of the projects set to take place. One of the main tasks of the Grand Pooba is to oversee the Hobo Day committee, as well as different events that take place during Hobo Week.

Typically, Hobo Week follows one central theme. For example, last year followed a zombie-theme called The Night of the Living Hobos, but this year there may be no theme for a variety of reasons.

“There really isn’t a specific theme for next year because it’s the 100th Hobo Day celebration and the theme is within itself,” Settje said. “It’s not the best idea to have a strange theme and have future students or members of the community look back and think that it was an inappropriate theme for the 100th Hobo Day celebration.”

As the Grand Pooba, Settje will have potential to build skills ranging from communication and teamwork to other leadership values. Settje said she really hopes to gain a variety of lessons from being the Grand Pooba.

“I really want to meet more people, have more leadership opportunities and to really give back to SDSU because the school has done so much for me,” she said.

Although there is a lot to look forward to as Grand Pooba, there is also the chance of struggle. Settje said instead of running the Hobo Day committee connected to the University Programs Council, the committee has a program all of its own, something that used to happen in the past.

Nick Wendell, assistant director of Student Affairs, said, “There has been so much positive feedback because of the changes that are taking place. The plan is to give [this] Hobo Day more prominence because it is such a milestone being the centennial Hobo Day.”

Settje and Wendell both said the 100th Hobo Day celebration should be something spectacular and making changes is the direction that the committee needs to go.

Wendell said with the 100th Hobo Day, SDSU hopes to revitalize older traditions that might have been lost over the years.

“The Hobo Day committee is trying to generate traditions that may have been forgotten about,” he said. “We want to make the week’s events bigger than they already are and make the experience more valuable than it already is.”