The earliest beginnings of homecoming date back to college alumni football games held in the early 1900s, which brought everyone back home and boosted school spirit. While there is no definitive answer about where homecoming came from, three schools: Baylor University, the University of Missouri, and the University of Illinois all claim to have celebrated the first homecoming. This tradition started as an event for college students and is still a fun week for them, but it has transformed into a week full of fun for high schoolers. Homecoming is common within schools, but the traditions vary from place to place.

Southern states take homecoming very seriously. In Texas, a big tradition is the homecoming mum. It was once a small chrysanthemum flower, which has now turned into a mum that is centered around a silk flower, with streaming ribbons, your name, the name of your date, and other creative things you like. Homecoming also includes choosing a homecoming King and Queen, who are voted in by the student body. There is also Spirit Week, where people are able to dress up according to the theme that was chosen for the day. Along with Spirit Week, there is usually a pep rally which typically ends with bonfires and fireworks. Homecoming also includes a formal dance the Saturday after the Friday night football game. 

At Southeast, the main traditions that have been going on for years are decorating hallways, coming up with fun spirit week themes, Friday always being purple day, candidates creating videos to share with the school, walking the track with the other male or female candidates, and having a dance following the football game. A unique tradition that SES has had all of the years leading up to 2022 was that we had an informal dance that followed the football game. This year, that tradition has been changed to a formal dance on the Saturday after the homecoming game.

Southeast loves football, and the purple bleeds all over the stands each Friday night. The full crowd is amazing, but it can add some additional stress to the lives of our homecoming candidates. After interviewing all five of the girl candidates, we quickly learned that everyone shared the same opinion that it is nerve-racking to think about tripping in front of everybody. Since it may be a little colder on Friday, they are also feeling uneasy about the weather and their dresses getting caught up in the wind. Even though these times can be a little stressful, they are all very excited to have been selected as the candidates, and they have really enjoyed some of our homecoming traditions like the making of the video.