Day #206 Writing Through COVID-19: Homecoming, COVID Style

Today was the culmination of Homecoming week. The radio in the kitchen is broadcasting the final minutes of our football team's trouncing of the Red Oak Tigers as I type.
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As a teacher, I have mixed feelings about Homecoming. The lunch games and music played in the halls between classes provide welcome levity. But the disruption to classes, the drama of royalty (We needed to be reminded who was popular?), and the distractions of float-building, dress-up days, and spirit-stick competition pretty much render the week useless in terms of teaching/learning.

I've learned to minimize my expectations for the week or go crazy trying to teach while ignoring the Homecoming elephant in the classroom. 
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But this year was different. The royalty (??! We still do this?) was crowned on Monday night after the JV football game, which short-circuited the usual week of catfighting as people accuse each other of campaigning or spreading rumors. 

The traditional all-girl (??! We still do this?) dodgeball tournament was replaced by trivia games played by individual students on their computers. I don't think the trivia competition generated much excitement among students, but it eliminated the sweaty, angry/gloating post-game emotional dumps that inevitably landed in our classrooms following the dodgeball games. 

Instead of a parade, student groups made posters and planned distanced stationary displays along a route through town. This "reverse parade" allowed people to drive by safely in their cars and honk to show appreciation and Atlantic spirit. The usual hoopla and chaos of parade organization were downsized, and students did not have to spend hours each night at float-building, hormones raging under the October moon, and then come to school the next day sleep-deprived, hearts afire.
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Sometimes traditions need an overhaul. COVID-19 has changed a lot about the AHS traditional Homecoming. A scaled-back Homecoming suited this old grandma just fine. My students were calmer. The balance between celebration and schooling felt more manageable. 
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COVID-19 has given us a new lens to filter our life-view. We've adjusted daily routines; we've avoided unnecessary contact; we've recalibrated what in our lives deserves to stay and what needs to go.

"We've always done it this way" is a questionable defense for schools to employ when justifying choices. 

COVID-19 gives us permission to rethink priorities. I'd say the 2020 version of Homecoming was an improvement. 
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Here's to hoping we can start next year with a clean slate,  re-engaging the uplifting aspects of Homecoming while letting the toxic aspects drift, along with COVID, into the past. 

Enough.
Be well.
Write.

The Wolfman, decked out in a hand-crocheted hat
and blanket from loving friends.