Homecoming has been a tradition for many colleges to look forward to. It is a time to come together and even to return home. While it seemed uncertain that homecoming would take place once school returned, West Texas A&M University was able to keep this tradition alive. WTAMU’s Homecoming Week took place Oct.19-25. Events included various tables with free items, the selection of the homecoming court and the homecoming game against San Angelo State.

With COVID-19 still being present on campus, Homecoming Week looked different than in previous years and quite a few events that the WTAMU community looked forward to each year could not take place.

“I really enjoy the parade and seeing what like everyone has to offer, and creativity and everything. That’s what I really miss about it. I just miss everyone interacting with each other and like having a good time,” said Elaina Flores, a senior history major. The parade was not the only event on students minds. “I one hundred percent will miss tailgate this year. I love just being able to go out and tailgate with my friends and family, especially within my greek family,” said Tyler Griffeth, junior agricultural media and communications major and student activities consultant.

Although many events did not return this year, some events were still able to keep student’s excited.

“I think I’m excited to see the crowning and the people who win, like the homecoming king and queen. Just because I feel like that’s like such an uplifting time you know. And like those people are like, they make a big impact here on campus, the nominees. Like cause they’re all involved in so many different things and they touch so many different areas here on campus,” said Tomi Moralez, a junior computer information systems major, as well as student activities consultant and student union leadership for the Office of Student Engagement and Leadership.

With Homecoming Week being such a big event, many students were happy to still see some functionings take place this year, even if they weren’t as big as in years previous.

“I wish it could have been what we always see like the parade and all the big events and things like that. But I am happy that wt is making an effort to still do events,” Moralez said. “While homecoming wasn’t quite what it used to be,” Griffeth said. “I appreciate WT making an effort just because it gives us a sense of normalcy and allows students to actually have a thing to do and expect every year, especially with the new incoming freshmen.”

While the continuation of homecoming has provided normalcy on campus, there were still some worries concerning COVID-19.

“I don’t feel safe about it. I’m just mostly concerned about everyone’s health and everything and how it’s gonna affect everyone else as well,” Flores said. Her main concern was that, “Everyone stay safe. Be healthy.”

With safety in mind, homecoming events took place in a way that followed COVID-19 regulations.

“Primarily we’ve just done events that are like come and go, like, pick up and leave kind of thing. So like they pick up a t-shirt and then they go about their day. Just a quick way to like, reduce crowds and reduce like the amount of people that stay there. So that’s how we’ve done that. As for means of, we did soda and candy, those are prepackaged items. So we didn’t have to go about wearing the different things and managing it that way. Like all the goods that we gave were, like they didn’t, we didn’t pass germs through the things we gave because of the way they were given out,” Moralez said.

Homecoming Week is not simply about a game or the crowning of the homecoming court. It means more than that to the community of WTAMU.

“Homecoming to me is a time to connect with people of the past, and connect with people that are currently with you and truly build up this buffalo spirit and the pride that we have, that we built here at WT,” Griffeth said. “I feel like homecoming is a super important thing, it allows alumni to come back and revisit and relive the good times and allows current students to connect with them as well as it allows everyone to be able to kind of have a place to go and things to do during the throughout the week.”