Is “Homecoming” just a USA thing? Or do other countries do something like it? Homecoming is an event – sports related – given by a high school whereby alumni are encouraged to return to root for their alma mater & later go to a nice dance. Some towns go all out, having parades and such things. At Newton, we have a King and Queen elected by the student body out of the senior class, and there’s a band half-time show. But no parades or anything extravagant. The dance after the game is formal, so many young people will be all decked out in their nicest clothes yet. (Well, until Prom, that is.)

Those of you who know about Homecoming are most likely wondering why I’m talking about it in January. After all, it’s the big Football Season event. And Football Season for high school sports, is over. Well, when you go to a non-football school, you must plan Homecoming for some other sporting event. In our school, we do it during basketball season. And tonight is our Homecoming game & dance. I, of course, am home. Not big on crowds or basketball and especially not big on dances, Homecoming’s never been a big part of my life. But the students at school have been excited about all week. (Well, the 3 days I had ’em this week, at least.)

I do have a question for those of you who know about Homecoming – do universities do this too? In a typical maneuver, I graduated from a football-free high school and attended a football-free university (Wright State University). So no Homecoming there, should there be such a thing for universities.

Now, after I graduated uni, I ended up teaching in two football high schools. And even went to Homecoming at my first teaching position. It was so weird having Homecoming in October instead of December or January. And Eaton did have a parade and all that jazz. I was mostly there to see the band half-time show. And I really remember very little about it. I had my folks & sister come along, just for grins. Amy probably remembers more about it than I do. I think we lost, but I don’t even remember that.

You might be wondering how we do a band half-time show during a basketball game. It takes place between the Junior Varsity and Varsity games. And it’s usually pretty good. They fill up the gym pretty well. The theme this year is Grease (the musical). I’m sure it was a good show – it usually is. We might not have the winningest sports teams around (though some are pretty decent) but we do have the Best Band in the Land. Heh.

I was inspired to write this post (and it was much better written in my head) while returning from the gas station tonight. Business there was down a bit because of Homecoming. So I got to thinking about our own take on it and wondering about how “universal” such a thing it is. And wrote up an LJ post on the short walk home. Of course, it’s a couple hours later and I don’t remember most of my “In My Head” post. I’m pretty sure it was better organized that this one. Heh – ah well.