Continuing down its path of destruction, COVID-19 has forced the cancellation of yet another staple of the Simpson College experience: homecoming.

“COVID has made everything hard,” Associate Dean of Students Rich Ramos said. “Homecoming is supposed to be a time when we come together as a community and celebrate everything that is so special about Simpson and, unfortunately, COVID has made it virtually impossible to do anything that we would have traditionally done.”

In pre-COVID-19 times, homecoming week was chock-full of celebratory activities for students and alumni alike included Yell Like Hell, street painting and the annual homecoming football game.

Unfortunately, the global pandemic has prevented all of those events from taking place this year. 

“We came to this decision as the well-being of the Simpson Family remains our number one priority,” Andy English, director of alumni relations said. “It was hard to take away the Homecoming experience from our alumni, but we knew it was a step that had to be taken.” 

The only currently scheduled event that is semi-related to homecoming is the annual Campus Activities Board (CAB) medallion hunt. A tradition in which CAB members hide a small token in a classified location on campus. This year, the hunt will be held from Oct. 12-16, and the top three finishers will be awarded cash prizes. 

Although the cancellation of Homecoming has not come as a surprise to students, that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t upset them. 

“It bothers me because I would’ve liked to have had the homecoming experience, considering it is my first semester here,” said Maggie DeCarlo, a first-year at Simpson. “It would be another thing for us to go to instead of being stuck in our dorms.”

While Homecoming has been taken away from students, the ability to celebrate Simpson College has not. 

“It is our hope that although we cannot gather in person this year that our alumni and supporters will take time during what was to be homecoming week to reminisce about Simpson,” English said. “We will definitely look back on 2020 as a different year, but I also think that it will make us appreciate our ability to celebrate Simpson College when we can gather once again.”