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Teacher Rosemary Wulf dresses up for TV Teen Tuesday.

It is that special time of year at the TEC campus when students don fun costumes, play games at lunch, set the parking lot on fire and cheer for the home team. It is Homecoming Week. The tradition at Englewood High School can be traced back decades. The Pirateer at the time was called, “The High Times”. Staff members found mention of Homecoming from an issue in November of 1954.

The week of October 2 through October 11, 2017 , is called Noir Et Blanc or Black and White. The theme is being used for float decoration and the dance theme. Dress up days include Marvel Monday, TV Teen Tuesday, Wake-up Wednesday, Throwback Thursday, and Pirate Pride day on Friday.

Homecoming is a time to celebrate shared experiences when you will see alumni returning to EHS from around the country to connect with people, places, and traditions. For many, it is more than just a football game, the modern homecoming has evolved into a week of celebrations ranging from tailgate parties and bonfires to formal dances and the coronation of a homecoming court.

The site Active.com took a look at the history of homecoming and found the NCAA credits the University of Missouri with the first homecoming event. In 1911 Mizzou’s Athletic Director Chester Brewer invited alumni to “come home” for the annual game against the University of Kansas. The event drew over 10,000 alumni and fans for a weekend of speeches, rallies, dances and a parade, with the big game as the weekend’s center point.

Englewood will take on Bishop Machebeuf on Friday night at 7:00 pm. A special guest will sing the national anthem. As the popularity of football grew on campuses across the U.S., several schools hit on the idea to hold a large-scale celebration to bolster school spirit and connect current students with alumni. Often times the coronation of a new football field or a big rival game was highlighted to focus homecoming celebrations.

The EHS student body has been voting on homecoming court the entire week. The court will be announced Friday.  Active.com says the homecoming court has its origins in the 1930s. Originally chosen based on a composite of the float she was riding and the person herself, later queens and kings were nominated and ultimately chosen based on their qualities as an individual.

On Wednesday night, October 4, the Powder Puff game takes place at 6:30 in the stadium, the tug-o-war is after that and then the skies above the school will light with the annual bonfire. One of the earliest instances of the homecoming bonfire was on the campus of Baylor University in 1909. Freshmen maintained overnight fires to safeguard the Baylor campus against raids from cross-town rival Texas Christian University.

Update: (new images from the Powder Puff game and the bonfire) 

In addition, students have been working on class floats with the black and white theme. The parade starts Friday at 2 pm. It travels down Logan Street to the TEC campus. The modern homecoming parade includes the school’s marching band, the homecoming court, a variety of floats based on a chosen theme and a leader of the parade–usually the school’s grand marshal. For this parade, you can expect to see many members of the community lining the streets.

The homecoming dance is Saturday night at 8 pm in the Commons. Click through the pictures of the couples who got creative in the ways they asked their SO to the dance.