By BETHANY SHERROW
News Editor

(WARRENSBURG, Mo., digitalBURG) — Homecoming week is one of the busiest of the semester for Tyler Misuraca, like so many other UCM students. But unlike other students, Misuraca is the president of the Homecoming Leadership Committee.

“There are 16 students on this committee,” Misuraca said. “There is a long list of people that are on this committee to make homecoming a success.”

He said his function as homecoming president is to make sure everything runs smoothly, ensure deadlines are met, and to help all other committee members achieve their goals for this year’s homecoming.

“I couldn’t do this without the advisors and without the committee,” he said. “I would just be one guy standing here being a ball of stress without those two. My advisors and committee are huge and they play just as big of a role as I do.”

Misuraca said the campus comes to life at homecoming time. He said he loves being involved, and his role in homecoming has evolved each year. He was Sigma Tau Gamma’s homecoming candidate his junior year, last year he served in the cheer and pep rally role on the committee, and now he is homecoming president.

HLC is a big time commitment. Misuraca said planning started in April. He said everything happening this week was carefully thought out and planned months ago.

Misuraca said while his role can be demanding, it is fulfilling.

“It’s very exciting,” he said. “I get the opportunity to interact with all the student groups. Not just students, but also the community. This is a community homecoming.”

Misuraca said the game and the blood drive are some of the most important elements of the homecoming experience.

“The most fulfilling I think for this community is the blood drive,” he said. “This is one of the biggest blood drives in this area. I would like to see 1,000 people donate.”

Misuraca said the football game is his personal favorite thing about homecoming.

“The homecoming game – it’s the biggest game of the year,” he said. “We have all the community people come out, (and) students come out for the biggest game of the year.”

Misuraca said when he was his fraternity’s homecoming candidate, he was picked as number two of the top five candidates, but that the experience was worth it.

“I had such an amazing time that I didn’t really care,” he said.

Misuraca has seen homecoming from many different perspectives, and he said he’s loved it every year. He graduates in December, and he said he’s excited to come back as an alumnus next year. But for now he has some simple plans for what he’ll do after homecoming week ends.

“I’ll get more sleep. Breathe. Take a minute,” he said.

On a more serious note, Misuraca said when it’s all over he is going to take satisfaction and pride in seeing how much fun the students had during homecoming due to his and the HLC’s hard work.