Many schools in Northwest Arkansas participate in their own homecoming court. Something that you don’t hear a lot about is the purpose and tradition of homecoming court at our school and other schools in the area.  Some of those traditions are just simply recognizing and honoring students who represent their school well while also providing an opportunity to allow girls, and guys, to feel beautiful.

 According to the director of homecoming court at Springdale High School, Kristina Curl, their election process is a student body vote along with a panel of eight teachers to judge their applications. 

Our school’s election looks a little different.

“The homecoming maids are elected by the student body. We release a google form to all students to elect 3 sophomores, 4 juniors, and 5 seniors.” Har-Ber’s Student Council sponsor Natalie Davey said.

Bentonville West does it a little differently. They elect a homecoming king along with their homecoming queen.“This year we started the tradition of also having a Homecoming King, voted on in the same ways as the queen,” Bentonville West High School’s student council sponsor, Andrew Stone said.

Bentonville West’s homecoming court is much more than just tradition, it is a chance to honor and respect students according to Stone.

“The purpose of homecoming court is to provide the student body an opportunity to honor students that they feel represent what it truly means to be a Wolverine.” Stone said.

According to Stone, he thinks that homecoming court at Bentonville West is not a popularity contest.

“I think homecoming is traditionally viewed as a popularity contest,” Stone said, “but with some of the traditions of how the court is elected and how often they can be on court, we are moving away from that traditional mindset.”

Aside from these different traditions at each school, HBHS, BWHS, and SHS all have one thing in common: a homecoming parade. While COVID-19 may have prevented any homecoming parades this year, every other year it is a long-lived tradition.

“The traditions for Har-Ber court involve the homecoming parade, the Homecoming assembly, and the coronation at the game (we couldn’t do a parade this year because of Covid),” Davey said.

Bentonville West’s homecoming parade looks a lot like Har-ber’s, but with a few of West’s own quirks.

“The parade consists of the band marching, cheer and dance teams on a float, football team on a float, maids/escorts each in a convertible or jeep,” Stone said, “floats are created by the BWHS clubs and class (Class of 2020, 2021).  The floats are judged by select community members and winners announced at the game.”