By Nicole Bays 

College Night has been the homecoming tradition of the University of Montevallo since 1919. The iconic purple vs gold split happened during the university’s 25^th anniversary in 1921. 

The homecoming tradition is incredibly important to the students, and each year the cabinet members go all out to make sure that the performance and sporting events go smoothly.  

Audrey Page Robinson and Dmar Milton, the leaders for the 2025-26 College Night season, had been a part of college night since their freshman year, serving as cast members and directors in years prior. Their jobs are to make sure everything runs as it should.  

“Our job, essentially, is to facilitate and make sure that every aspect of the College Night game on Purple Side is running smoothly,” Milton explained, “We’re really just here to help and support any and all needs.” 

When asked about their expectations, Milton talked about the first Circle Up at the college night mixer earlier this academic year, and how he likes to give out words as a sort of manifestation for the season. 

“I said the word was going to be love, and I said that as kind of an expectation. Everyone is happy and that they’re proud of the work that they’re doing and they’re not worried about the other side.” Milton said 

Robinson added, “My favorite Marion quote is, ‘the one thing college night wants from you is the best.’ Above all else, my biggest hope and expectation is that everyone is proud of what they’vedone by the end of it.” 

“I’m obviously extremely excited for Sexy Saturday, it’s so much fun, just all the people are just joyous and happy and loving,” Milton said. 

“It’s just the first sneak peak of what everyone’s been cooking up,” Robinson explained, “and I’m excited to see everyone’s reactions to our sign. You also get to see the cabinet and cast for the first time, and there’s that breath of, ‘oh not everything is a secret anymore.’ We can talk publicly about rehearsals, and I love sign raising for that.” 

“I wanted to be a leader simply to give back,” stated Milton. “I joined Purple Side freshman year and I’ve really grown as a person, artist and overall human being, and it’s taught me a lot.”  

“I started playing this game as a freshman and I got the opportunity to be a part of the cabinet as a freshman which was so special, and I never stopped playing college night since then. It’s been such a gift for me.”  Robinson said. 

 
Robinson wasn’t going to run for leader either, but last year a friend had told her that he was going to nominate her for leader. 

“Once he had that conversation with me and was like, ‘I think this is something you should really consider doing, I threw myself whole-heartedly into the game. When I love something, I love it hardcore.” Robinson continued. 

Robinson dedicated her time reading the manual and centennial book, research on the history and more analytical parts of College Night and fell in love with the tradition. 

“That really resonated with me,” Robinson explained, “and once I fell in love with the inner workings of the game, it felt like a disservice not to pursue it further.” 

Robinson said that if she were to get elected, she would give it everything that she had and she believes that purple side has been doing that, and that she’s incredibly proud of what they’veaccomplished. 

“So, I really think about the passion for this game and wanting to give back to the tradition and to do it right and to do it to the best of my ability.” Robinson concluded. 

College Night is very interchangeable. Its rules adapt and change, and sometimes, the leaders will change how the game is played, and others will keep it the same.  

“I think one of our biggest things we’ve done differently is our cabinet is a lot more broken down so that we can give people more opportunities to get involved,” Milton said, “We’re also really big on shouting out everyone and making sure they feel seen this year and that everyone feels included.”  

 “I think outreach has been something we both felt really strongly about. Not only on cabinet, cast, athletics but also babies and people who want to get involved. We’ve wanted to provide as many opportunities as we could.”  Robinson said. 

 Milton had already known he was going to be a Purple prior to coming to university. He talked about his arrival at the university, and how everyone on the purple side was so kind and welcoming right off the bat.  

“I love people who are unafraid to pursue what they love and do it loudly and I felt that when I came to Purple Side,” said Robinson. “I noticed in 2016’s show they weren’t afraid to take a risk and do something that meant to them. I wanted to give people the space to be who they are and say what they want to say and felt that Purple Side really did that for me.”  

The 2025-26 leaders for Gold Side are Juliana Holmes and Madison Smith. Madison has been doing college night since her freshman year, and Juliana has been doing College Night since her sophomore year of college.   

“Honestly, I think I would love a GV, but in general, we’ve been holding ourselves to a higher standard. We’ve been shooting for things subconsciously that we have felt like we couldn’t do before. We’re, no pun intended, we’re going for gold,” said Holmes when asked about their expectations for Gold this season. 

“Our main goal is to uphold the safety and fun of our cast, cabinet and crew,” Smith adds, “and ensure that even though winning is important, it’s not the most important thing. It’s building these relationships and making Gold Side stronger, even for years after we’re gone.”  

As leaders, they both had events they were looking forward to in this upcoming season. 

“So, obviously, the sign was one of the big ones that I was like, ‘I can’t wait until the people see this,’” Holmes said, “and finally, people got to see it the other night and that was awesome. But also, the show. There’s been a unique level of time, effort, love and a family bond with all of us to get this done and to make it the best thing possible,” Holmes concluded. 

“I’ve always been on stage, so I don’t really get to see how they’re reacting to our performance,” Smith explains, “So this year, me and Juliana, get to sit in the audience and see them react to all the awesome and wonderful things we’ve been cooking up behind to scenes.” 

Both also agreed that the athletics side was something they anticipated to be more difficult. Neither of them had been on any sort of athletics apart from color guard. 

“We’ve been trying to make sure that those people feel supported and encouraged in any way, because it’s not the same for art as it is for sports.” Smith stated. 

They said that organization and time management was a big thing for them to get settled this year. 

“Not to discredit any of our leaders of the past, but there have been many College Night rehearsals where we didn’t know what was going on, and we just kind of had to float and fly by the seat of our pants.” Smith commented.  

Smith said that by talking about how Holmes and herself want to minimize that issue by having goals, and a plan that’s being executed in the most efficient and effective ways possible. 

“It’s been a year that because we’ve scheduled it so well, we have time to teach cheers and chants in rehearsal,” Holmes said. 

Holmes hadn’t originally planned to be a Gold Side leader. Her plan was originally to continue doing cast, script editing or directing, but eventually became a leader. 

“I really enjoyed getting to work with people on a personal level and helping orchestrate those things. Several people really close to me encouraged me to do so.” Holmes said.  

“I felt like we needed someone who knew how Madison operated. We’re like two different sides of the same coin. I also felt like I needed to be a leader to advocate for the people who aren’talways seen all the time, like my tech friends,” Holmes said. 

Smith had known she’d wanted to run for Gold Side leader since her freshman year of university. 

“I wanted to take lessons that I’d learned from each season and help create a healthy environment for Golds, not that there wasn’t one before, but just take the good things that I learned from each leader and expand upon them.” Smith said.  

“I realized that I needed to give something back to Gold Side and all the things it had given me,” Smith said, “and the only way I could best see how to serve the people of Gold side was to lead them in the best way I possibly could.” 

“I would say pre-production,” Smith said. “Our athletes are going to come watch the run-through of the show, and our cheerleaders are going to do their halftime routine for our athletes and cast members. It really creates our little open circle.” 

Holmes responded with, “I love the period leading up to show week where we have everything in place and it’s a matter of running the show and we get to implement costumes and lights.”  

“I really think us locking in on the organizational side of things has really made everything else miles more enjoyable.” Holmes explained. 

“We got to kind of carry the burden of the organization part and the planning part so that the rest of the departments on production could be as seamless as possible and be as fun for everyone.” Smith said. 

Smith was originally very torn on which side to choose, but she wanted to decide what she felt right about. 

“I pushed myself to go to the big mixer in the fall to see and meet everybody. When I talked with Gold Side, I was just met with open arms, I was a friend to be made, and truly, I think that mentality invited me to join and to stay every single year.” Holmes said. 

Madison had a very similar experience of feeling torn because she had people urging her to become a Purple.  

“When I talked to Gold Side, very similarly, the connection was just different. It felt like they wanted to get to know Madison, not just what Madison can do for Gold Side. They wanted to help me fit the best,” Smith explains, “I felt like the connection was deeper, and the open circle definitely helped. I always encourage as leaders, no matter who you are, what you do, we will love and support you, and that is a sentiment that really resonated with me as a freshman.” 

Both side leaders want to give back to their communities , and to pay back for all of the things they’ve received over the course of their four-year journey. They’ve put in work to make sure that things this season run as smoothly as possible, and to ensure their wins at the big reveal on February 14th.