As fall comes into full swing, and the leaves start changing and falling off of the trees, the homecoming season has finally arrived. Homecoming is more than just a home game for the football team after they’ve been away, but it is also a chance for the school to come together and have fun with some school spirit. In addition to this, it is a chance for the school alumni to have reunions and experience the nostalgia of being back together at their old school.
Here at NW, we have a whole host of homecoming traditions that work to bring the student population together and let alumni relive their college days. However, these traditions have not remained the same over the years, but instead have fluctuated with the growing college.
One tradition that has since fallen by the wayside is that of crowning a homecoming king and queen. Like the process done in most high schools, NW used to have a homecoming court, which led to the election of the homecoming king and queen. Current senior Jessica Shulmeister stated that “The crowning of a Homecoming King [and] Queen is something we did my freshman year that I haven’t heard about since. I believe the campus voted out of five candidates, and the winner was revealed at the coronation.” She wasn’t clear on why it had stopped, as it seemed to have just died out. It seems that it ceased due to lack of interest, so if it should be revived, there would have to be sufficient interest.
Another tradition that has since ceased to happen around homecoming is the alumni soccer game. NW alumni and current professor Rebecca Koerselman recalled the soccer game that the soccer teams played against the alumni on the Saturday of homecoming weekend.
A more recent homecoming tradition that has since ceased is the annual 5k run. In a 1996 edition of the Beacon, an article about homecoming weekend stated that “at 9am the runners will meet in front of Christ Chapel before embarking on the 5k or 10k race through Orange City. The registration fee for this event is $9 with T-shirts given to each runner. Medals will be given to each runner. Medals will be given to the first and second-place man and woman in each age group.” This event was a more recent one to cease, and its end is also attributed to lack of interest and a changing campus.
One former homecoming event was the annual Airband Context where students formed bands and mimicked real bands with choreography and performances. There seemed to have been some groups that lip synched and some that performed on their own. This event seems to be a precursor to NC/DC, which is a much bigger battle of the bands in between NW and Dordt.
In addition to these, NW also had some weeklong events such as the week-long dress up and the Medallion Hunt. During dress up week, homecoming as a whole was given a theme, such as “Way Out West”, then throughout the week each day was given a dress up theme such as pajama day or fancy formal day.
The other week-long event was called the Medallion Hunt, and according to the same 1996 edition of the Beacon “The Medallion Hunt will kick off the Homecoming event. Clues will be posted daily in the cafeteria and in the Student Activities Office. A $50 prize will be awarded to the first person to find the medallion.” says the 1996 article. This tradition is mimicked by the new “Hide N’ Zeke” tradition, where every day, a Medallion featuring the SAC coordinator, Zeke Stansbery, is hidden around campus with hints posted on the SAC Instagram daily. The first to find the Medallion gets a $20 gift card to Kweken.
These traditions, along with the many others that NW still does for homecoming, such as morning on the green or the showcase concert and children’s show, helps to bring campus together in a season of unity and nostalgia that the homecoming season brings.
