Going back to all in person studies at South Windsor High School, thoughts about going back to normal were immediately expected. Between Fall sports, in person clubs, and more coming back to life, the one topic that caught students eyes most was if SWHS will host a homecoming this Fall. 

After hearing that the high school would not be hosting homecoming due to Covid safety, Junior Samantha Rondinone took matters into her own hands. “Homecoming affected all high schoolers this year,” says the junior. “It was a huge disappointment when we heard we weren’t able to host one.”

Feeling strongly about this topic, the junior set up a change.org petition “advocating for change.” The petition wrote, “Covid 19 isn’t going away. We have to move on, take precautions, and stop hiding from reality.” Quickly, Rondinone gained 800 signatures and over 15 reasons for signing, from parents, alumni of SWHS, and students. 

Not everyone at SWHS felt as strongly as Samantha does about homecoming. Fellow Junior Wyatt Cote writes, “Not having it didn’t affect me at all or anyone else, I don’t think anyone cares.”

Fighting for homecoming was falling smoothly into place for Rondinone, until came downsides to the petition. A fellow student created a petition on change.org as well, mocking Samantha, this petition wrote, “petition to stop Samantha’s petition”. 

The “joke petition” was taken down less than 4 hours later, but it did not stop there. Later on that day, an Instagram live took place named “drama alert at 8:30,” in which students discussed and commented about the petition. Over 150 people joined the live video, but this did not stop Samantha from getting what she wanted. “I’m still continuing my fight to earn the homecoming students deserve. Especially after such a tough year in 2020. We had to cancel all events every high school student looks forward to. The covid rate in our state is below 2%. We deserve a homecoming.”

On  Wednesday,October 6th  SWHS principal sent out an email regarding homecoming. The letter described how there will be a homecoming dance, Saturday, October 23rd. This homecoming is welcome to only the Senior and Junior class, located on the High School’s lower field. When asked about how he feels about homecoming being on the field football uses, Wyatt Cote responds, “I feel like someone is going to sprain their ankle dancing on the grass”. Feeling negative about homecoming he also writes, “I feel like it’s a joke,  and the turn out will be poor.”

Some fellow students of Samantha and Wyatt take having homecoming as a more serious approach. Senior Jack Whitlock explains, “It’s very unsafe to have during covid.” 

Samantha Rondinone, on the other hand, was proud of the work she has done, and feels her voice has finally been heard. She explains how she advocated for what she wanted and finally got it. She says, “Having homecoming is a big achievement. We went from nothing at all to finally finding a safe way to host it.”