The Hampton Script

Jaylen Harris | Staff Writer

After a week of newfound memories and fun, Hampton’s Coachella-themed Homecoming is officially over.

The event began Oct. 20 with a festival on the Waterfront featuring a ball pit, festival rides and student artists. Due to weather conditions, the traditional homecoming kickoff—the bonfire—was changed to a block party outside of the Student Center. Although it was freezing cold and raining the week of Homecoming, the weather didn’t stop Hamptonians from attending parties, events, and concerts held in and around Hampton as they had the time of their lives. The creative efforts put forth by the HUchella organizers also demonstrated what kind of events could be held in the future on our campus.

So where do we go from here? Some deemed this Homecoming the greatest one yet, but how can we maintain school spirit for the rest of the year? With the disappearance of Holland parties every Saturday, there isn’t much we can look forward to.

Some deemed this Homecoming the greatest one yet, but how can we maintain school spirit for the rest of the year?

“I think we can maintain school spirit by having a food truck Friday once a month,” said Peyton Hundley, a senior biology pre-med major, from Charlotte, North Carolina. “Having the food vendors for Homecoming was something that everyone was excited about, and I think doing that … would liven things up a little.”

Brandon Johnson, a sophomore business management major from Bowie, Maryland, added, “We have open mic shows and movie nights, yeah, but I think there should be more spontaneous events on campus like laser tag, celebrity appearances where they perform, food trucks. Anything that we aren’t used to I’d say would better the social scene at our university.”

Other HBCUs such as Morgan State recently held a pep rally featuring some of our favorite artists in the entertainment industry. The purpose of this event was to show the importance of voting. Having similar events at Hampton would increase interest for future prospective guest appearances while promoting the university’s name on social media.

“The ‘Young Gets It Done’ pep rally was a great way to show students that we can have artists come and put on a show, while also stressing the importance of certain matters like voting,” said Iyanna Harris, a Morgan State University student.

Thankfully, the social mixer known as 12-2 has been held every Friday since the beginning of the semester. Additionally, there has been a steady stream of open mic shows, art exhibits and meditation events on campus. There seems to be an increase of different types of events being hosted this year which is a good thing. Furthermore, there are a lot of great organizations on campus interested in gaining new members; people just need to explore and step out of their comfort zones.

All in all, there has been nothing but good things said about this year’s Homecoming, a special shout-out to the “comLITtee.” Hopefully we, as Hampton students, can keep this energy going, for not just the semester but for the entire year.