Being a school without a football team, homecoming is a little different. That doesn't mean that tradition is lost, however.

Not having a football team means we get to do a lot of other tradition events that don't have anything to do with sports. At the Homecoming Kickoff, we had our annual Charger Stomp, where several campus organizations competed with original step routines for a monetary prize and bragging rights. We had competitions on decorations from organizations and clubs, too. Door and/or lawn decorating, window painting, and party board displays made up another tradition at UAH called "Paint The Town Blue." This let our campus go all out in decorating and get recognized for the hard work put in. We also held a canned food drive, and the cans collected were used to make a UAH logo, before being donated. Chargers like giving back!

My favorite part of homecoming at a school without a football team is the freedom we have to showcase many of our other sports. We crowd in the stands for volleyball and hockey games throughout the week and our homecoming game is a hockey game. How many homecoming kings and queens can say that they were crowned at an ice hockey game? I'm sure that number isn't very high!

We also have a tradition called "Charger Madness." Its a giant pep rally where we get to watch our Charger basketball teams show off! There were dunking contests and a shoot-off featuring audience members, along with things like a game of charades between two members of the girls' team and two from the guys' where the audience members were the ones acting the words out. We were also introduced to the brand new UAH high school wheelchair basketball, who plays a scrimmage and had the audience on the edge of their seats.

Even though we don't have football, UAH shows up and shows out for homecoming week. Here's to Homecoming 2016. Go Chargers!