By Hailey Heinz

Free pizza was given out Thursday as part of Celebrate NU Day, a pep rally sponsored by the Student Ambassadors of the Alumni Association, which combined Northeastern’s 106th birthday with the kickoff of Homecoming festivities. In addition to pizza, Qdoba provided nachos and cake and ice cream were also available.

Krentzman Quad was decked out in red and black for the event, with a sound system blasting such favorites as “Cotton Eyed Joe” and “Magic Carpet Ride.” The quad was crowded with students, mainly concentrated around food tables and the free T-shirts. Raffle tickets were distributed to students as an enticement to stick around until 3:45 p.m. when a drawing was held for prizes, most notably a Red Sox jersey autographed by Derek Lowe.

One big winner for the afternoon was Chris Lawler, a graduate student majoring in statistics. Lawler won two tickets to see the New England Patriots when he won the spirit competition.

The competition was judged by crowd reaction, and the contestants were students who were sporting plenty of red and black. Lawler clinched the competition by singing a spirited rendition of the Northeastern fight song.

“What better place to sing the fight song than at a pep rally?” Lawler said.

When President Richard Freeland accepted a university birthday card from the students, he reminded students they were standing at the site of the first World Series. He drew parallels between the Sox victory in the World Series and Northeastern’s move into the Top Tier of universities in the nation, an important step toward Free-land’s goal of placing North-eastern in the top 100 on US News and World Report’s best college list.

The rally also included performances by the pep band and the cheerleading squad. Atten-dance remained high throughout the event, which lasted until about 4:30 p.m.

-Correspondent Hailey Heinz