HOCO, which stands for homecoming, is a school event that celebrates school pride and brings the community closer.

One of the main parts of HOCO is the football game. This football game is often one of the biggest ones of the season, and is when alumni come to watch and support their school. Also leading up to HOCO, there is a spirit week which encourages students to dress up and show their pride. The spirit week usually culminates in a pep rally to further boost student morale. Oftentimes, there is a homecoming court that is elected by the student body. 

According to older issues of Smoke Signals and our year book, Emphasis, there have been homecomings on and off since the 1980s. In fact, an article by Lily Rossi shows that Wayne Valley hosted a homecoming as recently as in 2019. Hoco was reinstated by Executive President Maria Pacelli and Vice President George Beyjoun during the 2018-2019 school year. They wanted to make spirit week more fun as well as increase Valley pride. 

At this most recent homecoming, the theme was Disney. In the days leading up to the dance, a spirit week was held; during the week was Monster University Monday, Sleeping Beauty Tuesday, Alice in Wonderland Wednesday, Lilo and Stitch Thursday, and Back to the Ball Friday. 

For the homecoming court, students voted for royalty based on grade. Seniors were kings and queens, juniors were princes and princesses, sophomores were dukes and duchesses, and freshmen were counts and countesses. 

The 2018 homecoming was a success, and according to a later article by Skylar Ryan, so was the 2019 one. Sadly, after the Covid-19 pandemic, homecoming was not brought back. 

Many other schools in our area and all over the country have HOCO, leading some Valley students to complain about us not having one. While HOCO does seem like a tough event to organize, it can also be a really amazing opportunity for students to form closer relationships as well as have a night filled with fun! If it were up to you, would you bring HOCO back?