It’s that time of the year again: homecoming season. It starts with spirit week, where you dress up for different themes, then the famous homecoming football game, and finally, the dance. Homecoming has been a tradition not only at Lakeside, but many public schools all around the United States. Many students don’t know the cultural impact it has had on us as people.
Homecoming isn’t a 21st-century tradition as people may assume; rather, it’s been around longer than our grandparents. The University of Missouri is credited with starting the tradition back in 1911 to welcome back alumni for a football game. Homecoming originally started off as a college tradition, but during the mid-20th century, high schools adopted the tradition and added the dance that is now known nationally. Homecoming is a part of our culture, our lifestyle; it brings us together in celebration.
There are also many traditions that come with the dance that make it so special. One student, Dante Alvarez (10), said that his favorite is “going out to dinner prior to Homecoming.” Traditions can range from getting dinner to getting ready with your friends to taking pictures at Oak Grove Church. Regardless of what you decide to do before, it definitely makes the night all the more memorable.
Today, there are fewer and fewer people attending the game and the dance. One student, Emiko Takeuchi (11), who is also SGA president for the class of 2027, said that she has noticed this. “I think people stay at homecoming for less time than they used to. Freshman year, I feel like we stayed for, like, an hour, and then last year, everyone left after like, 30 minutes”, even stating that she also left. Even though there are still more people attending than 10 years ago, as Mrs. Boggs had stated that when she came back in 2015, she “barely sold 50 tickets to homecoming”. This raises the question as to why students aren’t having as much fun at homecoming as they have in the past.
Mrs. Stephanopoulos, an assistant principal at Lakeside High School, said that this is because homecoming isn’t as inclusive as it could be, stating that “A variety of music would make it more appealing to more demographics, and definitely make more people go.” Last year, the main genre of music that was played was pop, or what some may call “TikTok” music. The majority of the music was in English, and if we made more of an effort to include songs from other cultures, more people would definitely want to go to the homecoming dance.
However, there are still many ways that the dance has become more inclusive over the years. For example, this year our homecoming theme is “Down by the Bayou”, which was taken from the Disney movie “The Princess and the Frog”. This year, the theme was entirely chosen by students in SGA, unlike in past years the leader of SGA would pick. This has had a positive impact on how students view the dance as a whole, and more students may attend.
In conclusion, while the homecoming dance still has its faults with diversity and inclusion, there are still parts that should be appreciated. It brings us together as a community. With all of the history and traditions surrounding this day, it’s important that we remember and respect where it came from and the people who have helped the dance evolve into how we celebrate it today.
