Homecoming–the special time that high school students wait for all year, but what is behind it? Currently, homecoming week is thought about as silly dress-up days, parades, football games, and a dance. Let’s look at how it all came to be.

The idea of homecoming was created sometime in the 19th century. Many colleges claim that they came up with the idea; however, the University of Missouri is credited with the official founding when they encouraged former graduates to attend one of their football games. This became a major success and an annual tradition that many colleges afterward copied. For example, Baylor’s first homecoming can be traced back to 1909. This included some modern events such as a parade, football game, and a party/dance.

The combination of how all of these colleges celebrated their own homecomings created lots of traditions that many schools now take part in such as…

Homecoming Court

Typically, two seniors are elected to be homecoming king and homecoming queen while underclassmen make up the rest of the court. The king and queen are often crowned at the local pep assembly, football game, or dance.

Parade

Many schools host a parade for the town to celebrate homecoming week. A grand marshall is picked to lead the parade based on a huge amount of help and assistance to the school district over many years. Parades tend to consist of the school band, fall sports, and clubs.

Pep Rallies

These are fun ways to include the public in homecoming week. Often hosted a night or two before the big game, pep rallies are supposed to pump up the students and community and help spread school spirit.

Dress Up Days

The week of homecoming is when schools have their “school spirit” week where students dress up for each of the theme days.

Homecoming Dance

This is usually the final, big event of this fun week. Groups attending usually take pictures together, go out to eat, and then head to the dance that is often located at the high school.

Homecoming week is lots of fun even when it may seem like a big hassle. Enjoy it while you can because before long, you’ll be wishing it was homecoming week all over again.