For reasons unknown, the high school tradition of homecoming transposes itself into university culture.

While I understand the need for a special social gathering in high school to disseminate good vibes and break the rigidity of course structure, I do not understand the need for it in college.

I am paying for my specialized schooling to gain educational credentials; why would college students pour well-earned finances into a black hole of bad music and popularity contests?

I can only come up with one conclusion: High school never ends.

I attended the university’s homecoming dance last year, and it was less than spectacular. The food wasn’t bad, the lighting was decent and the song that was playing when we sauntered in was “Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the Machine (an altogether strange choice for a formal dance). 

There were very specific cliques in attendance: the Emerging Leaders (of which I was a part), members of various sororities/fraternities in support of their siblings for Homecoming Court, people who are practically professional dancers and a few floaters.

I found it interesting that most of Homecoming Court were members of Greek Life. I suppose by being members of Greek Life they are able to receive much more publicity than the common student.

Popularity wise, the jocks of my high school are equivalent to sorority and fraternity members on the court. Again, I see this as just another facet of high school transposing itself into university life.

Let’s say hypothetically that I won the title of The University of Akron’s Homecoming Queen. I would most likely feel special and pleased that I had more people like me than the rest of the women, which is in itself an incredibly shallow pleasure.

Whenever my friends and I were at a high school homecoming and they started to announce who the king and queen were going to be, we’d always say “forget it” and go outside for a break. Achieving popularity (whatever that even means) has never been one of my main goals in life.

According to the famous Bowling for Soup song, “You take a look around and you say ‘hey, wait! This is the same as where I came from, I thought it was over’…”