The Change of a Beloved Tradition

October 30, 2009  
Filed under Features

-Sam Hartley

On Saturday, September 26, 2009, Dundalk High School held the 2009 Homecoming events, but the sequence of events was different from years’ past.  The tailgate party, Junior Varsity, and Varsity football games were on the same day as the Homecoming Dance, which has never happened in Dundalk High School history. Students had mixed emotions on the changing of the events this year and either good or bad, the students have spoke their minds about what events they are going to attend, what they do not like about them, and their opinions on the new scheduling of the events.

 For the past 39 years, according to old DHS yearbooks, Dundalk had the Homecoming Dance on the Saturday after the Pep-Rally, Powder-Puff and Homecoming game. Then, a new tradition started when former SGA Adviser, Mrs. Erika Dillard entered the halls of Dundalk High School, she created the yailgate party, which became a favored traditional Homecoming Event. The tailgate usually takes place right after the Pep-Rally and a couple hours before the big Homecoming game. For the last 13 years, the tailgate party had taken place before the game on a Friday night before the day of the dance. 

However, this year the tailgate party and the Homecoming game are now in the afternoon as the same day of the Homecoming Dance. Some students are outraged by this change. “It’s my last year and I can’t even go because it was never announced and I just found out when it was,” remarks a Dundalk High School senior in an anonymous survey. Many students feel that homecoming was announced way later than it should have been. “They should have announced Homecoming a little earlier than 2 weeks before! Now, a lot of people can’t go and the seniors didn’t even know a thing about powderpuff practice until the day of our first practice,” states another senior.

Some students even find the Homecoming event timeline as an improvement. “It will be better than last year,” an 11^th grader says. The majority of the underclassmen think that it is a step up from years before in Dundalk. “I think it’s good because now students have something to do before the dance,” states one 10^th grader.

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