Everyone loves homecoming. Especially at UCF. We students have plenty of reasons to love it: free comedians, free concerts, philanthropy, free clothing, and the nation’s #1 college tradition, Spirit Splash. Of course it’s a lot of fun, but why this particular week? Why is it called homecoming when we’ve all been back at school for two months now? Did we just want to continue the fun from high school without the awkward dance?

With these questions in mind, I decided I wanted to look into the origins of homecoming. Here’s what I learned from the first result in my Google search:

• Harvard and Yale have been inviting alumni “to return home for The Game” between the two schools since the 1870s, but this is not the clear origin
• All of the contested beginnings of homecoming have several things in common: a football game, fun events (rallies, parades, speeches, dances) that intended to unite alumni and students to create a stronger sense of school pride, and their success in accomplishing that goal
• The first homecoming as sanctioned by the NCAA, Jeopardy! and Trivial Pursuit was in 1911 at the University of Missouri when their athletic director asked alumni to come home to inaugurate the new football field location against a rival school. More than 10,000 alumni and fans attended.
• Baylor argues that their 1909 “Good Will Week” was one of the first homecomings

Now that my curiosity has been satisfied, I can say that regardless of how it started, I’m grateful it happens. Sure mid-October is usually when there’s exams and project due dates and who knows what else, but it reminds me to have a little fun while I’m in college. I love hearing from nationally known comedians and diving into the reflecting pond with 15,000 of my classmates (even though I usually don’t get a duck). These are things I’ll remember when someone asks me about my college experience later on, and I’ll be able to say I am proud to be a UCF Knight.