By Rebecca Najera
Verve Editor
Homecoming is a tradition that both high schools and colleges have had dating back to…well, whenever.
During the homecoming seasons, schools go above and beyond to express their school spirit. There’s dress-up days, tailgate parties, dances, and all sorts of other events going on through the week leading up to the homecoming football game. While all of these activities are fun, none of them represent what homecoming is really all about.
When you hear people reflecting back on their college years, they often refer to them as being some of the greatest years of their lives. College is where people truly define themselves and make some lifelong friends. Personally, if I were forced to choose between going to my high school’s homecoming or my college’s homecoming, I’d without a doubt go to my college homecoming. I’d want to relive one of my most favorite college experiences, and hopefully do so alongside my favorite people.
Another reason why I believe the college homecoming experience outweighs the high school one is because college football gets way more attention than high school football. If your high school wins their homecoming game, that’s great for your school and community. But if a college team wins their homecoming game, not only is it great for the school and community, but I feel like it sparks a sense of pride in even more people globally. People from different towns, states, and countries come to different colleges, and then go back to where they’re from, or branch off and go somewhere else. The more people, the more school spirit, the more it seems to matter.
Whether you agree or disagree, in the end, homecoming is only as important as you make it seem. How involved you are and how much school spirit you have are the major factors in determining how much homecoming will mean to you. Some of you may just come to class and then go home. And that’s completely fine. Maybe I’m just more excited for TJC’s homecoming because I’m enjoying college way more than I enjoyed high school. Or maybe it’s because I partake in certain activities and events around campus where the excitement is just constantly flowing and it’s taken its toll on me.
I feel that all of this excitement homecoming spreads around the community is a way to get future students excited for their college experience as well. So not only is this an exciting event for the alumni and students, it’s also a great way to attract future students.