The History of Homecoming: How We've Changed

It's 1965 and Samo's students are glimmering with school pride at the Homecoming dance. Girls are shining in their newly purchased chiffon dresses and holding the hands of their suit-clad, cologne-drenched dates. The students’ minds are centered around the excitement of this one dance that brings everyone together for the first school event of the year. Fast forward 48 years, and Homecoming at Samo is next to unidentifiable. The aura of school spirit that was once so prominent during Homecoming season is now virtually gone, which leaves students and Associated Student Body (ASB) members to pose the question: what happened?If we look at the turnout rate of Samo students at the Homecoming dances in the past 10 years, it's evident that the once incredibly popular homecoming has vanished. Homecoming was viewed differently in the 20th Century than it is now. Samo's student body in 1965 for example, was of complete adherence to the school itself–exhibiting school spirit at every dance, rally, and game.According to active.com, the first sightings of anything related to a Homecoming celebration was exhibited at the annual Harvard-Yale college football game where alumni returned home for the rivalry game in the 1870s. However, the first homecoming celebration as we know it here at Samo remains arguable. A high school in Illinois held one of the earliest recorded "coming home" dances around 1910.English teacher Berkeley Blatz said that when he attended Samo from 1963-1967, Homecoming was the most important event of the year. The festivities didn't only pertain to Samo students, but were events that brought together the entire Santa Monica community in supporting one common interest, which was the Samo Vikings."It was big and brought the whole community together," Blatz said. "We used to have a big parade where each club would create their own float—it was a real civic event."According to Associated Student Body (ASB) adviser Bryn Boyd, at her high school in Palos Verdes, the Homecoming festivities were all held on the same weekend and were not as spread out as they are today."Students would go to the Homecoming rally in the morning, go to the football game that night and then all walk together back to the school to celebrate with the homecoming dance." Boyd said.So when did this celebrated tradition of homecoming decline so severely? Blatz believes that when Samo introduced the house system, the school spirit was split and events like Homecoming were not the same."The houses split Samo and made events like Homecoming less important because Samo wasn't one school," Blatz said. "We need to bring back the one school spirit that Samo once had."Math Teach Alicia Gonzalez said that when she went to Samo from 88'-92', Homecoming was a very big deal and it was always really exciting to see everyone dressed up."I think the biggest difference from Homecoming then to Homecoming now would have to be that the freshman and sophmore classes are now included in the Royal Court. When I went to Samo, the court was much more exclusive whereas now, I think it's very inclusive of all Samo students." Gonzalez said.As the many videos of Homecoming proposals flood Facebook and creative signs are seen throughout school, it is clear that Homecoming was revived this year. ASB took a new alternative by creating an online competition that rewarded the most creative Homecoming proposal with two free tickets. By getting more of the student body to come, the Homecoming dance was brought back to its roots, instilling community values and promoting school spirit."I think that it was really a special feeling for me to see almost the whole school come together in one central Samo event. All of the ASB cabinet's hard work payed off with this amazing dance." Sheshpari said.bross@thesamohi.com