The Homecoming Committee has announced next year’s theme.

“Ignite Magic Through Cyclone Spirit” is this year’s theme for Iowa State’s Homecoming celebration, held during the week of Oct. 20.

The Homecoming football game is scheduled on Saturday, Oct. 25, against Baylor University.

David Critchlow from ISU’s Alumni Services said the highlight of Homecoming will be a community-service project.

“A house will be built in Ames, and Habitat for Humanity will help us kick off our community-service project, hopefully the Sunday after the Iowa Games,” Critchlow said. “We are also going to try to involve more ISU alumni and more of the Ames community in Homecoming events.”

Critchlow said the torch run for Homecoming next year will only go through Iowa. He said this will allow more alumni clubs to become involved.

Currently, ISU of Greater Des Moines is the largest alumni club, totaling 2,000 members. About 9,000 people in the Des Moines metro area are ISU alumni, he said.

The torch run used to start at the opposing team’s city and travel to Ames.

Athletic tournaments, spirit contests and designing lawn displays are some other homecoming activities that ISU students can look forward to.

J.T. Dean, a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity, said Homecoming is an excellent time for freshman to get involved.

“When I participated in Yell-Like-Hell my freshman year, I met so many different people,” Dean said. “It was a great introduction to college.”

Yell-Like-Hell, a competiton which is put on during Homecoming week, allows organizations to put groups together to discover who has the most school spirit. Spirit-driving skits are put together and are based on the Homecoming theme, Dean said.

“When I was in finals two years ago for Yell-Like-Hell, it was a great,” Dean said. “We used body paint so every part of our body had to be covered with gold or red.”

Critchlow said the winners of Yell-Like-Hell will perform at the alumni tailgate two hours before the kickoff of the football game.

Dean said he will spend 70-100 hours on Homecoming 1997.

“There are about 15-20 sports that are like the intermurals on campus,” Dean said. “The organization that totals the most points wins something like a high point trophy.”

Students can look for registration a few weeks prior to Homecoming according to the Homecoming Central office.

“Homecoming is an amazing experience because it gives my fraternity house time to get to know the younger guys,” Dean said. “Plus, you get to learn how to use power tools. It is bonding time.”