Today marks the last day of Homecoming week. The pomp will be retired until next fall, the points will be tallied from the week’s events and competition, and all will return to normal just in time for finals to creep up on us. This week has not been without many highlights.
From the Service Day, to the hot dog eating competition at Field Day, to the questions at Rock the Vote, to the late nights float-building, Homecoming week has been replete with events and memories that will fill our college memory banks.
Hopefully, you have shown your Mustang pride and been involved in some of the festivities this week.
However, beyond the themes, competitions and events this week, there resides a deeper meaning. What is the meaning of “homecoming?”
Homecoming is, quite simply, about coming home. Alumni, parents, former teachers all pour back onto campus. Our forefathers and foremothers return to the place that helped form them to honor it as an institution. Coming home can be a rejuvenating and strange experience, especially after being away for a while. Summers spent in one’s hometown after being away at college come to mind.
For us – current students of the University – homecoming does not constitute a return to our alma mater. Indeed, we are already here at SMU. We have yet to leave and traverse our respective journeys into the world. We have not left the nest.
So what does “homecoming” mean for us?
On the surface, Homecoming may just be another excuse to celebrate, boulevard and (admittedly) procrastinate. Nonetheless, homecoming also suggests a deeper significance for the undergraduate.
This is a time to ask ourselves if we have made a “home” at SMU. All of the Mustangs that will return home this weekend can only do so because they have done this. They built for themselves a home on the Hilltop. So too are we called to utilize these four (or five) years to truly make SMU a place that we can be proud to call our home.
Certainly, there is no archetypal behavior or method necessary to create this home. Every individual home will include different people, places and experiences.
But, building a new home (like building a float) is hard work.
Making somewhere new your home means being open to significant degrees of growth. Just like our childhood abodes, SMU has a lot to teach us about the world, each other and ourselves. Having SMU as our home requires openness to the knowledge and wisdom it provides.
Moreover, being at home at SMU demands that we give of ourselves. As a university community, SMU offers countless opportunities – both institutional and non-institutional – for personal growth and exploration. We must not be afraid to share with others our experiences and ourselves.
Furthermore, we should not be afraid to discover in new ways the limits of our identity. Doing so will create for us a distinct place in the SMU family.
Nevertheless, just like any home, there are always difficulties. Our family members – the administration, faculty, staff or fellow students – will make decisions that we dislike, create policy we consider unjust or perpetuate ideas we deem untrue.
If SMU is truly our home, we should not fear bringing forth our concerns. This home should be one that is open to criticism and cognizant of its imperfection. Making SMU our home necessitates sharing our opinions and complaints about this institution. Our perspectives can shape and growth the hilltop into a stronger institution – a better home.
This Homecoming week marks the official celebration of your home here at SMU.
I hope that every student has found a home at SMU, and I hope that that home is characterized by personal growth, self-giving and tough questions. If you feel homeless at SMU, allow today to mark the beginning of your home here.
At the end of this Homecoming week, I hope that we have built a home together – so that every Mustang can proudly hold his or her pony ears up at tomorrow’s game and revel in the joy of being home at SMU.
Drew Konow is a senior religious studies, foreign languages and literatures triple major. He can be reached for comments or questions at [email protected].
