Number One and Loaded with Fun! Get Ready for the First AIS Homecoming

Last year, the idea of a Homecoming at AIS would have seemed laughable. This year, however, that is definitely not the case.

On November 7 from 7 to 10 p.m., Atlanta International School is getting its first-ever Homecoming dance, and it is shaping up to be one of the biggest nights on campus yet. The theme? Golden Hour. The setting? Our Sandy Springs campus.

Instead of walking into an auditorium that looks like every other school auditorium in America, students will be celebrating in a space that already feels like the set of a movie. Add golden-hour colors, music, friends, food, and a whole lot of people dressed up, and suddenly AIS has a Homecoming of its own. The school is incredibly excited to organize and host it, and we are just as eager to see every student be a part of this historic event.

But before we get to the dancing, there is one important thing to take care of: food.

This week, students can purchase food from the concession stand in the SAC Mezzanine with proceeds helping fund the Homecoming dance. However, this concession stand is not your standard bag-of-chips-and-soda situation. Delicious food including wings, peach cobbler, empanadas, and fries, will be available throughout the week.

So, if you were looking for an excuse to buy a snack after school, congratulations! You now have one that actually helps make Homecoming happen. If it’s after school and you are part of one of many extracurricular activities, whether it’s sports, mock trial, DECA, or robotics, the concession stand will be open to serve possibly the best, if not the greatest, concession food. 

And the dance is only part of the celebration.

On November 10, AIS basketball will take the court for a Homecoming game, giving everyone another chance to show up and support the school. There will also be a tailgate that afternoon at the outdoor basketball courts, so students, families, and friends can come out, hang around, eat, and get ready for the game. The game will also have halftime performances, including a half-court shot contest and a dance routine that will cap off a moment of history for the Eagles.

It is hard to imagine a better way to bring everyone together. AIS is a school where students come from all over the world, speak countless languages, and have wildly different interests. We have conferences, competitions, concerts, sports seasons, cultural celebrations, and approximately one million things happening at the same time. But Homecoming is something different; it is an excuse for everyone to stop what they are doing for a night and simply have fun together.

For seniors especially, there is something pretty cool about getting to say that we were here for AIS's first-ever Homecoming. There is no tradition to follow yet; no “this is how we have always done it.” We get to decide what Homecoming at AIS actually becomes—we are part of the history of a school that has been around since 1984. So get your food this week. Come to the tailgate. Support the basketball team. Find something gold to wear (just no jeans, please dress formally!). Bring your friends. Buy the tickets. And on November 7, get ready to make the first AIS Homecoming one worth remembering.

After all, if we are going to start a Homecoming tradition, we might as well make it number one and loaded with fun.