At the beginning of October, a week full of homecoming festivities was held, close to two months after we returned home to Niles North.

In my opinion, homecoming took place too long after we returned home to rightfully celebrate our homecoming, I was surprised to find that our homecoming date could be considered early.

Matthew Fabbioli, a senior at Glen Brook North High School (GBN), celebrated his homecoming this past week. Accustomed to a late homecoming, he was shocked by our homecoming being held so “early.”

At this stage in the year, my mind has been consumed with Halloween and Halloween plans for the past two weeks. Simply imagining myself in the position to coordinate weekend plans for homecoming and then for Halloween with only one week in between to take a breath strikes me as overwhelming. After one big celebration, I need some time to settle and build anticipation for the next.

However, the lucky students at Evanston Township High School (ETHS) had more than enough time to settle down after homecoming and gear up for Halloween.

ETHS students attended their homecoming game on Sept. 18 and their homecoming dance on Sept. 19, two weeks before Niles North’s homecoming weekend took place.

Not only did ETHS celebrate homecoming significantly earlier than Niles North, but they also began school on Aug. 24, only one day short of starting two weeks later than we did.

According to Isabel Graves, a senior at ETHS, the purpose of homecoming is “to get everyone excited and pumped for the school year.”

In comparison, Fabbiolli says, “For me, homecoming is all about having a reason to be proud of your school.”

If the day school begins ETHS students are greeted with plans for homecoming to take place within the month, it is not out of place to define homecoming as a celebration for their homecoming and embarking upon a new school year.

Likewise, if the school year is already in full swing by the time homecoming is celebrated, school and school pride becomes homecoming’s central focus.

According to Niles North’s Student Activities Director Caroline Benjamin, “Homecoming celebrates school spirit [… and] allows us to kick off the school year in a positive and exciting way.”

This may be the intended purpose behind homecoming, and our mid-range date may be chosen to honor both a new school year and school spirit. Unfortunately, in practice homecoming does not capture both associations for Niles North students.

Homecoming is an opportunity “to let loose,” sophomore Asher Hoffman says.

According to senior Maria Barrera, homecoming is “just [a] party and I love it.”

There is nothing wrong with a little party and there does not have to be a reason behind a party to appreciate it. However, associating homecoming as primarily a party instead of a celebration of us and our school diminishes its contribution as a means to unify our school community.

Homecoming is “used to bring the school together,” former student Kayla Jackson says.

“I feel like it raises morale of the students, which we absolutely need to get through the year,” junior Celine Dukic says.

The one larger idea Niles North students gather from the homecoming week experience is unity. Since freshman year, beginning with the homecoming assembly, extravagant pep assemblies engrave the WE ARE ONE slogan into our minds to the point where unity becomes the crutch and is cited as the reason for any Niles North event without further thought.

Essentially, amid the overt displays of school spirit and expressions of unity, the idea is lost to consider homecoming a welcome home party for each student both individually and collectively.

An early homecoming date might unearth this interpretation.

Although Student Activities begins planning the next homecoming shortly after one takes place, hosting homecoming within the same month we return to school might not often offer enough time to mobilize people to organize it.

After all, the dates available to host homecoming are dependent on the football team’s schedule. The dates chosen to consider not only are home games that take place while the weather is still decent, but home games our team is likely to win in order to help boost student morale. To satisfy those objectives, it will not always be possible to pick an ideal date that is early enough to celebrate our homecoming and late enough to organize a celebration around it.

Ultimately, while homecoming may encompass school spirit and welcoming sentiments, the tradition and the mechanics of homecoming indicate that it is centered around the game even though some think of homecoming in regards to the dance more than the game.

“I think homecoming celebrates more than the football game — that you are part of a school community that you will grow beyond, but will keep with you forever,” Betsy Holman, a Social Studies teacher, says.

Throughout homecoming week, spirit days are held for any student or staff member to lose themselves in the hype. The homecoming dance is held only for student attendees, but the game is open to the community.

The fact that homecoming is based around the only component that does not specifically target current students begs the question of whose homecoming is actually celebrated.

While I still would prefer homecoming to be held earlier than it is and was this year, perhaps homecoming is not meant to celebrate our homecoming. Perhaps, it is meant for alumni.

For alumni, the date could take place anytime in the fall; it would still be a date they are coming home to their old stomping grounds.

All of us at our most exuberant and unified after a whole week of spirit and a day away from our big finale might touch the heart of a reminiscent alumni.

For us, we are immersed in our school culture. We don’t have the needed distance to miss it, appreciate it, and want to celebrate it.

As a senior, I know I will be leaving home at the end of this school year, but I don’t have that needed distance to warrant a homecoming fiesta every night when I come home. However, just like 150 of the alumni that visited our homecoming game this year, when I come home on breaks, I will likely want to visit and celebrate as well.