This weekend the population of Moscow will spike as hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people will travel to the University of Idaho for the 2015 Homecoming Week celebrations.
Many of these visitors are alumni, eager to return to their beloved college town to reminisce with old friends, hang out with the current students and, of course, take part in traditional homecoming activities.
There are plenty of events scheduled during the Friday and Saturday of Homecoming Week that are well attended and have become yearly homecoming staples. One of these staples is the Saturday football game.
The football game is what the entire Homecoming Week is centered around. This may be because the sport itself is so ingrained in American culture, but I think a big factor is that the homecoming game is one the Vandals have historically won. In recent years, it”s been the only game of the season we”ve won.
Erin Bamer
But just because UI has won a lot of its homecoming games in the past doesn”t guarantee we”ll win this year”s. Based on our team”s track record, most Vandal fans likely go into each game hoping for the best but expecting the worst.
Despite this, alumni still fill Moscow to the brim year after year. They tailgate with fellow Vandals and file into the Kibbie Dome to cheer on their team, knowing full well there is a definite possibility we”ll be utterly destroyed. Alumni don the gold and silver war paint regardless, because alumni don”t attend UI homecomings for the football.
Football is not what Homecoming Week is really about, even if the university centers the entire week on it. Alumni don”t come to homecoming for the football because they didn”t come to UI for the football when they were students. No student ever comes to UI for the football program unless they”re literally on the team.
Alumni came and stayed at UI when they were students because of the community, because of Moscow, because of the campus culture, because of the people they formed bonds with. These are the exact same reasons why so many alumni return during Homecoming Week, and it”s really what the whole week is about in the end.
Yes, most of the events planned during Homecoming Week, and especially the ones scheduled on the weekend, are geared toward the football game. However, each event gives attendees the chance to socialize with fellow Vandals, and gives alumni the chance to relive and participate in traditions they did when they were students. Alumni come for this reason, and that”s a pretty beautiful thing if you ask me.
I still have another year to complete after this one before I leave UI and enter the real world, but I am already appreciating as many details of this university as I can. I”ve loved Homecoming Week from my freshman year, and I know I am going to miss it after I graduate. It”s comforting to know that I can return to take part in the same great traditions every year and know so many of my former classmates will be there as well.
Alumni do great things after they graduate from UI. This year”s theme is “A Hero”s Homecoming,” and these alumni really are the heroes coming home to their university.
It”s a pretty big honor when you think about it. All of these people who have done wonderful things with their lives take time out of their schedules to visit their old Vandal home, and they do it eagerly.
Welcome home, Vandal alumni.
Erin Bamer can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @ErinBamer