On Saturday night, Nov. 10, CMC hosted its annual Homecoming, Monte Carlo Night, in Collins Dining Hall. The festivities followed the CMS' 27 to 22 win over Pomona-Pitzer at the Homecoming football game earlier that afternoon.

The doors to Monte Carlo opened at 9 p.m., when students walked into the former Collins dining hall, now transformed into a quasi-casino, filled with roulette, poker and blackjack tables instead of dining tables. Each of the 35 stations was hosted by a professional dealer, with room for about ten people to play at once. Despite the large number of spots to play, Collins was still packed and it was difficult to weave one's way through the room to reach a different table without breaking up several groups of people. In the midst of deciding whether or not to go all or nothing in poker, sporadic chants of "CMS! CMS!" would begin and echo around the room in order to commemorate the CMS win over Pomona-Pitzer that afternoon.

Upon entry, students were each given a fake $1,000 bill, which they then traded in at tables for gambling chips. At the end of the night, students traded their chips in for raffle tickets to be entered into a raffle to win various prizes such as a trip to Las Vegas for two, an ipod nano, a $25 gift certificate to Toybox, $50 cash, movie tickets, Kiwiberry gift certificates and more.

In the grassy area outside of Collins' near the Heggblade Center was a makeshift dance floor and stage, where a band was playing popular songs from the 50s and 60s. The theme of this year's Monte Carlo, "Claremont on Ice" was exhibited by three large ice sculptures with the letters "C," "M" and "S". The most popular photo opportunity was standing behind the sculpture and sticking one's tongue to it. Next to the ice sculpture was a long table with different fruits available to dip into a chocolate fountain. By the time midnight rolled around though, all of the food had disappeared thanks to the hungry dancers.

Every student was dressed to the nines; women with formal dresses and guys in suits. It was a positive change from seeing your classmates dressed in sweatpants and sweatshirts every day. Although a cold night, most women wore strappy evening gowns.

At 1 a.m., the band stopped playing and announced the winners of the raffle draw, with prizes including an ipod video, a trip for two to Big Bear, a $25 gift certificate for Victoria Secret and others. After the results were announced, the women hurried back to their dorms to change out of their dresses and into jeans and sweatshirts to go to the after-party at the CMC senior apartments. The guys, some of who were content with their suits, strolled over more slowly to top of the night with another party.