Homecoming, a Lindenhurst High School tradition. Between spirit week, pep rally and the big homecoming game, every kid in the high school and even the middle school are usually so excited for this time of year. The thrill of whether or not our team is going to win the game, and voting for our very own homecoming king and queen makes everyone ecstatic. But this year has been full of crazy twists, one of them being that we do not have a football season this fall. Another thing that has been taken away from high school students is the thrill of the entire Homecoming week. 

The First Message

Kids all over the Lindenhurst district were devastated when they realized that this year we not only want to have a football season, but homecoming, pep rally and spirit week have also been taken away from us. So, our principal Candice Brodie sent out a message over the Student Square on October 2, 2020  that read, “Homecoming is a long standing tradition in schools across the country that we look forward to every year. State restrictions still prevent us from having a homecoming that fully encompasses all of our Lindy tradition and pride. This year especially, we still want to welcome everyone “home”. We are in the midst of planning a “Welcome Home” event for Saturday, October 17th.” After this message everyone’s hopes were starting to come back up. We were going to have our homecoming, just with a twist.  The new norm has become: make sure everyone is safe while having fun. 

Spirit Week

With everyone anxious for the next message and our principal working hard at how to make our homecoming fun but safe, the next message was sent out on October 9, 2020. This message stated, “Next week, we will hold our traditional Spirit Week leading up to our untraditional “Welcome Home” car parade (flyer to follow). We would LOVE to see EVERYONE, whether you are in person or remote, participate and show their Lindy pride and spirit. The theme for each day is attached.” On this attachment it had the schedule for spirit week. Tuesday, October 13 was “Spooky Tuesday”, on this day you had to wear a spooky Halloween t-shirt. On Wednesday, October 14 it was “Flannel Wednesday.” Thursday was “Fancy Thursday” where you had to get out your tuxedos and nice dresses to look fancy. Of course Friday, October 16 was “Lindy Friday” a day where you get all your Lindy gear and colors and show off your Bulldog pride! 

“Welcome Home” Car Parade

Saturday, October 17th, the day everyone had been waiting for. Since we couldn’t have a normal Homecoming due to social distancing and safety regulations our school has decided to do the next best thing. A car parade! Each grade had their own theme to inspire what their cars will be decorated like. The freshman class had the theme Cinnamon Toast Crunch, the sophomore’s theme was Fruity Pebbles, the juniors had Captain Crunch and the seniors had Lucky Charms. To prevent a large number of people from being unsafe in one area there were a few ground rules. Each class was allowed to have 2-3 cars that represented their class, but the seniors were allowed to decorate their own cars if they pleased. The decorations weren’t allowed to impede the drivers vision, cars shouldn’t be jam packed, everyone inside and outside of the cars has to be wearing masks and making sure theory keeps a safe distance. 

However, there is one key thing when it comes to Homecoming, crowning the homecoming king and queen. That was covered too!  A message was sent out to all the students with a google form that had the nominees, then they totaled up the votes to see the official winners. The winner of Homecoming King was AJ Setzer, and the winner of Homecoming Queen was Brynn Waszmer! They both were crowned and rode proudly from the high school to the middle school, showing their Lindy Pride all the way! 

This homecoming was very untraditional, everyone had such a great time and stayed safe the entire time! Hopefully next year our homecoming will be back to normal, but it is great that we were able to still enjoy some aspects of it.