Every October, as the trees start turning bright colors and the weather is finally starting to cool, the Wilmington Friends School community is alive and buzzing with the excitement of a new school year finally setting in. With the return of school comes undeniable stress, but this is offset by the resurgence of the sense of community that WFS prides itself on. There are countless homecoming events and festivities planned, including sports events, upper and lower school pep rallies, and the upper school homecoming dance. Every year old and new friends come together to celebrate homecoming traditions and school spirit.

The first highly anticipated homecoming tradition is the pep rally, which is always an event full of school pride as well as fun; this year is bound to be no exception. The event takes place October 21st, the Friday before the homecoming dance. “The pep rally is going to have a lot more inclusive activities for middle and upper school,” commented Aleman ’17.  “We are adding some events to it that should make the experience a lot more fun to watch and overall more interactive.” Pep rallies in the past have included performances from chamber singers, chorale, band, and other student groups. “I always like when all the grades cheer and we compete to see who can cheer the loudest,” Myla Brilliant ‘17 added.

The most exciting and anticipated events for the upper school is the homecoming dance, which will be held Saturday, October 22nd at 8:00pm in the lower school gymnasium. This annual event is always a good time full of music, dancing, and celebration among the student community. “I’m excited for homecoming; I hope that people dance as much as they did at prom!” an anonymous student said. This year’s theme is “Red Carpet”, and the students are gearing up for the chance to dress up for a fun, glamorous night. “The homecoming dance is going to be very extravagant and elegantly decorated, going with the theme of Red Carpet/Grammies,” said Christina Aleman ‘17, a clerk of Spirit Committee. Spirit Committee is a club of students in charge of planning the dance, as well as the upper and lower school pep rallies. The morning of the same day, there will be a football game against Tatnall held at school at 2:30pm, featuring a halftime show by the 4th-8th grade band. There are a variety of other homecoming events leading up to the dance and football game, starting Friday, October 21st.  Volleyball will be playing Concord at 6:15 (JV 5:00) and field hockey will be playing Tatnall at 11:00am the next day.  Later in the day soccer will play Tatnall as well, at 12:00.

This year’s homecoming at Friends will not disappoint, and is destined to be a week full of school spirit and cheer. All of the highly-attended sports events, dances, and other homecoming events show the whole WFS community cannot wait to show their pride for what makes Friends great.