JESSE MCCARTNEY PERFORMING AT SFA'S ANNUAL HOMECOMING BONFIRE
Written By: Meghan Reily | October 15, 2018 | meghanholleyreily@gmail.com
Jesse McCartney, the 31-year-old singer and actor, was once every young teenager’s obsession
back around 2006.
With his hit song “Beautiful Soul”, and his
appearance on Disney Channel’s, “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody,” McCartney will hit the road and head to east Texas to perform for Stephen F. Austin State University’s annual homecoming event.
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SFA’s Student Activities Association has worked
diligently on the organization of this year’s homecoming celebration.
The annual homecoming event consists of several activities for the Nacogdoches community and students to enjoy before October comes to an end.
From the “Running Through the Decades 5k Marathon,” to the SFA football game against the Lamar Cardinals, the 2018 homecoming celebration will be one that will can looked back on for years to come.
Following the Torchlight Parade at SFA’s Ag Pond on Friday October 27, the community and students at the university can walk down Wilson Drive to attend McCartney’s free concert at the intramural fields, located on East Starr Avenue.
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Haylie Girard, the property manager oat “The Californian Apartments,” located across the street of the intramural fields, said that they look forward to the homecoming bonfire and that it’s a way for residents of The Californian Apartments to socialize.
​“Every year we like to invite our residents to join us to watch the bonfire with lawn chairs, food trucks and some bar-b-que,” Girard said. “This is a great way for our residents to get to know each other, as well as show school spirit.”
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McCartney’s appearance in the oldest town in Texas has been publicized all over East Texas and has captured the attention of students from other universities.
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Cambria Dear, an undergraduate at Baylor University, in Waco, Texas, has been a McCartney fan since he first appeared on Disney Channel back in 2005, and plans to visit Nacogdoches to attend the concert.
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“I think that SFA getting him to perform for homecoming is amazing,” Dear said. “I am traveling 160 miles, which is about a 3 hour drive from Waco to go to the concert because I’ve had many relatives attend SFA and I think that it is really special that someone like Jesse McCartney will be performing at the homecoming.”
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SAA’s ability to get McCartney to play at SFA’s homecoming bonfire has increased the attention of the university, as well as provided insight on SAA’s effort
and determination to make this annual event one
that will be long remembered.
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“SFA being able to have this concert really puts such a smaller school that not a lot of people know about into a media spotlight,” Dear said. “I think this is a really big deal and hopefully this could help increase the number of admissions.”
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Although McCartney is well-known among those in their early-20s, it can be questioned if McCartney’s appearance in the Piney Woods will have the same effect on those who hadn’t known who he was back in his stardom around 2006.
“I think that whether people know who he is or not that the turnout for the concert is going to be big,” Dear said. “People are going to be interested in going to the concert because it’s been what a lot of people have been talking about non-stop.”​
With the anticipation rising of the bonfire event, SFA students that are fans of McCartney are eager to see their childhood crush.
“I am freaking pumped because he was definitely my first man crush,” Kirsten Garza, a senior at SFA said. “We all grew up listening to Jesse McCartney, so I think that it was a great move on SFA’s part.”
Although McCartney eventually left the spotlight, Garza said that she believes that the 2018 homecoming will be historical for the Nacogdoches and SFA community.
“Homecoming season is always super fun and we really come together as a community,” Garza said. “Even for the parade, the whole community and school districts get involved, and it’s just a really good time of the year, especially getting a break from midterms.”
Jesse McCartney’s free admission concert will be held at Stephen F. Austin State University’s intramural fields on Friday, October 26th.