Homecoming at The Linsly School in Wheeling is one of the many traditions that students, faculty, and alumni look forward to every fall. With festivities traditionally including a home football game, a dance, and often coinciding with Alumni & Reunion Weekend, Homecoming at Linsly has become an annual celebration involving the entire Linsly community.
As with so many festivities and events in 2020, Linsly’s Homecoming looked and felt different this year, but the school spirit surrounding this tradition remained just as strong.
In lieu of a Homecoming dance, administrators at Linsly worked with prefects (student leaders) to come up with the idea of having a Homecoming Spirit Week the week of October 13-19. Each day of Linsly’s Spirit Week included a fun themed dress-down day such as “Tuesday Twins Day,” where students dressed like their best friends, “Wild West Wednesday”, “Tropical Thursday,” and a Linsly-themed spirit dress day on Friday.
Pandemic Precautions
This year, instead of the Homecoming Court being introduced on the football field during halftime, Linsly had a Homecoming Court parade through the campus after the school day ended on Friday, where students and faculty cheered them on, socially distancing themselves outside along the parade route. The parade ended at Lockhart Stadium Fawcett Field where one lucky member of the Homecoming Court, Lourdes Giovengo, was crowned Linsly’s 2020 Homecoming Queen by the random selection of a white rose.
Following the parade and crowning, on Friday evening, a special dinner was held for seniors, where they could social distance and still celebrate their senior year Homecoming together as a class. On Saturday afternoon, Linsly will host the Homecoming Football game against Alderdice at Lockhart Stadium Fawcett Field with kick off set for 1:30 p.m. Attendance for the football game is limited to parents of players and cheerleaders as well as members of their immediate households only.
“We know this is not the Homecoming Weekend that our students, especially our seniors, had envisioned,” explained Head of School Justin Zimmerman. “However, we continue to put the safety, well-being, and health of our students and faculty at the forefront of all decision making. Although we were unable to host the traditional events, we still wanted to make this a special week for our students.”
“Students enjoyed the freedom to dress in themed casual clothing throughout the week and were able to safely go outside and enjoy the parade of the Homecoming Court on Friday after school,” said Zimmerman. “We also were pleased to be able to honor our seniors with a dinner Friday evening that allowed them to dress up, socially distance, and celebrate Homecoming safely as a class.”
