Homecoming brings to mind beautiful dresses, football games, social events with friends, and school spirit. But with the homecoming planning finished, it begs the question: what is homecoming, and where did it come from?

   Homecoming was first seen in the early 1900s. It’s difficult to attribute one school to the idea, but The University of Illinois was responsible for the first recorded homecoming. During this era, the school was on a considerable losing streak against their football rival. The community rallied together to show school spirit; and just like that, the first “homecoming” was born. 

   Soon after, homecoming traditions were slowly adopted by highschools all over the country. This includes dances that usually take place after the game, so the majority of students can participate and bring dates. However, Woodgrove’s homecoming has faced considerable controversy over this year’s atypical schedule.

   In an interview with Woodgrove’s SCA president, Lily McBride, she spoke about how students think the SCA has the majority to do with the planning and timing of the decisions.

   When speaking to Mr. Schutte, he mentioned that there was a scheduling issue between Valley and Woodgrove. Each school had decided on the same date for the homecoming dance and the football game. This presented an issue for students and restaurants around the area. With both schools attending on the same day, the restaurants and streets faced an overload of kids. Schutte said, “They [the staff] wanted to give kids a choice between Valley’s homecoming and Woodgrove’s.” The options available were either to have Woodgrove’s dance a week before the game or a week after. The  decision to have the dance a week before the game was ultimately voted on by the student council.

  The Outlander reached out to multiple students for their opinions and most had a negative response towards the issue. Joey Marcheschi, a junior at Woodgrove stated, “Spirit week isn’t up until homecoming, so it defeats the whole purpose of school spirit.” In addition, Emma Hardy, a senior at Woodgrove added, “I wish they kept the original date…”