When high school students think about homecoming usually dress shopping, cheesy proposals, dancing, and taking tons of pictures comes to mind. Many students forget to think, where did the idea come from, and why do high schools participate every year? 

According to travelgenius.com, the first “homecoming” football game was held in 1911, at the University of Mississippi. The University of Mississippi had a long standing football rivalry against the Kansas Jayhawks, another college, and the school decided to invite all of their past and present students to come help the football team take on their rivals. Not long after, many other colleges and even high schools started to modify the idea at their own campuses. These modifications included, adding a dance, pep rally, spirit week, etc. 

Another huge part of the homecoming “week”, is the homecoming dance. A widespread tradition among schools nationwide is, having a homecoming court. The homecoming court is decided by the student body, who vote for the king, and queen (seniors), and the prince and princess from each other the other classes (juniors, sophomores, freshmen). Many students will run for this great honor by making posters, and banners. Schools across the country have decided to do away with this tradition, because the process and outcome can cause a lot of drama between the students. 

Homecoming is a tradition that has been honored for over a century. The anticipation and excitement of these events give students something to look forward to. As schools nationwide continue to modify the “Homecoming” weekend activities, one can only hope that the tradition will not be lost altogether.