History of High School Homecoming

Let’s learn about the history of high school homecoming! Homecoming is coming up for many schools across the country, making now a great time to learn about its origins and traditions. So here we go, let’s dive into the history of high school homecoming. 

What is homecoming?

Homecoming is a football game in the fall. The game is at high schools and universities across the United States. The homecoming game is followed by a homecoming dance for current students. While the general public is invited to attend the game, only students can attend the dance. Homecoming is a time for school spirit and for the community to come together in unity. It is a time when alumni and teachers can gather together and reminisce while enjoying a game. 

Students can campaign to be part of the homecoming court. Once all of the contestants are chosen, students and or faculty vote on which of the students will be crowned homecoming queen and king. The rest of the contestants become homecoming princesses and princes. 

It is essential to know what homecoming is to understand the history of high school homecoming.

When and where was high school homecoming started?

Homecoming started in the early 1900s as a way to celebrate and invite alumni back to the college. That’s right, homecoming started as a college celebration that morphed into the high school tradition we know today. The universities already held reunions and alumni events, and they wanted to include those types of reunions in the fall, too.

American universities used homecoming as a way to encourage school pride and for former students to come back to their schools and see old friends in the fall. Many universities claim to have started the original homecoming tradition. Regardless of which college started it, we can all agree that homecoming is a time when communities come together to celebrate and watch a football game. 

What were high schools like when homecoming started?

Homecoming made its way to high school stadiums a couple of decades after it started in the universities. High schools adapted the pep rallies, parades, and celebrations occurring at the universities and changed them to meet the needs of their students. Homecoming as a whole, with its week-long celebration, football game, and dance, became a way to encourage school spirit, increase belonging, and bring students together. By the 1920s and into the 1930s, high schools across the country began implementing their age-appropriate versions of homecoming. 

The end of the 1920s is when the stock market crashed, catapulting the Great Depression in the 1930s. It was a big deal for schools to retain students during this time, especially since older teenagers were not legally required to be in school past the age of 14. Homecoming gave students the experience of belonging through the festivities. 

For those still enrolled in school, they could temporarily forget about their responsibilities and jobs and enjoy being a kid. Thousands of kids ages 13-15 had work certificate permits during the 1930s. Thousands of teenagers aged 16-17 were given age cards permitting them to work. Age cards were proof of age for legal employment. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of teenagers during the 1930s traveled around the country looking for work. Many younger children worked unofficial odd jobs around the neighborhood. 

Were there enough students in school in the 1930s to have football games?

The high school graduation rate in 1930 was around 30%. This rate gradually rose by the end of the decade. Many families moved westward during the 30s as the Dust Bowl’s severe dust storms forced families to relocate. By the mid-1930s, President Roosevelt’s New Deal provided relief to American families affected by the Great Depression. 

Many schools closed during the 1930s. Class sizes increased. High schools began to offer more practical classes, like home ec and auto shop. More girls graduated than boys. For most of the population, school was a luxury, a privilege not afforded to everyone. Racism was raging in the 1930s, with segregation in full effect. Students still enrolled in high school in the 1930s would have likely come from middle-class families that did not rely on the children to have jobs. 

There was a shift by the end of the 1930s in the job market towards educated employees. By 1940, the graduation rate was closer to 50%. This means that during the entire 1930s decade, more and more high school students were graduating from high school every year despite the school closures and the underfunding. 

The homecoming game

At the heart of homecoming is the homecoming football game. This one game is arguably one of the most important and one of the most popular football games played across American stadiums, played midway through the football season. It is played on the home team’s field, meaning that most teams will play in two homecoming games; one for their school, and one for their rival school. The crowd is huge during a homecoming game as students, teachers, parents, and alumni crowd the stadium to cheer on their team. School spirit is higher during the homecoming weeklong celebrations, resulting in a highly popular game. 

The homecoming queen and king are crowned at the game. Other times, the homecoming court will be announced at the homecoming dance. 

The homecoming dance

Whether the football team wins or loses, there is a dance that accompanies the game. Students dress up in formal or semi-formal attire and celebrate their school spirit for the night. 

Homecoming traditions

Many schools celebrate homecoming for an entire week. Every day has a unique event. The homecoming game itself is usually at the end of the week. The dance is sometimes right after the game, and sometimes held on a later day, depending on the school. 

How has homecoming stayed the same over the years?

It is interesting to me that so many traditions surrounding homecoming have stayed the same over the years. Students still spend homecoming week pumping up the school spirit, supporting their team, and creating a homecoming court with a queen and king. 

How has homecoming changed over the years?

There are also some things that have changed over time. The biggest is the evolution of the game from college to high school. There is currently a bigger community involvement than there was decades ago. Although celebrations in general are the same, the types of celebrations have changed. 

Parades, alumni, school spirit. These are some of the themes surrounding homecoming that have withstood the changing times. We are currently at over 100 years of homecoming games at universities, and around 100 years of homecoming games at high schools. 

My high school homecoming experience

My high school celebrated homecoming with a spirit week. Every day was something fun and unique. Monday might have been crazy sock day. Tuesday could have been wear school colors day, or crazy hair day. Anything fun and out of the ordinary to mark the specialness of the week up to game day. 

We also had students run for the homecoming court. Our marching band played in the stands during the game, and performed with the colorguard during halftime. The cheerleaders cheered alongside the football field. There was a parade of school clubs and alumni that marched around the football field at halftime, too. We also had a semi-formal homecoming dance the next day. It was a fun time that I remember fondly. 

Final thoughts about the history of high school homecoming

There is something special about going to a homecoming game. The weather is colder, the school spirit is high, and friends get to cheer for their team together. There is a lot of energy surrounding the homecoming week. It is very cool to look at the football field during the game and remember all of the previous generations who have played on that field, sat in the stadium, yelled, cheered, spilled drinks, ordered concession food, saw the cheerleaders, listened to the band. Homecoming does exactly what it intended to do- it builds belonging.