By: Annie Birnberg, Gem Díaz Velázquez & Maddy White

Homecoming is a series of events hosted at a school in order to celebrate school spirit. Each school, whether it be a high school or university, has its own traditions and customs.

At Bradley University, homecoming is typically a week lo ng, and the university also invites its alums to visit and participate throughout the week.

Bradley’s homecoming has events spread out throughout the week such as Lighting of the B, Painting of the Lydias, and the Bradley Bowl.

Some high schools have ‘spirit weeks’ leading up to homecoming, choosing fun themes for students to use as inspiration on how to dress during the week.

Most high schools in the United States have a football game at the end of the homecoming week with a dance following right after.

Some schools have what some students would call an odd setup, such as having two high schools partner together and host their homecoming weeks as one.

Madison Pratt, a freshman here at Bradley University, went to Kirkwood High School, which is in Kirkwood, Missouri.

At Kirkwood, the high school pairs up with Webster Grove High School for Homecoming. Each year the two school switch off who hosts the dance and who hosts the game. For example, if Kirkwood were to host the dance, then Webster Grove hosts the game.

Pratt said the Homecoming week was called “Friendship” because it was all about the two schools coming together to celebrate school spirit.

She thought it was an interesting way to celebrate homecoming, and was laughing when she said what it’s called. This is type of homecoming is considered normal for some high schools.

However, other high schools have Homecomings where they just do the dance on their own, but host the game against another high school within the league, at their specific high school football field.

Some high schools combine their schools for the dance and others have the dance separately.

The traditions change from school to school, but the goal remains clear. Homecoming brings the entire school today to cheer for the same team and express pride of being a part of something bigger. Bradley does a good job of offering something for everyone throughout the week, just as high schools do with spirit week and weekend festivities.

In the video attached, you will see different Bradley students compare their high school’s homecoming week with Bradley’s, along with which they prefer and why.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrnH45gBiSY&t=7s