Last Saturday, you could hear the bass bumping from the football field behind Cainhoy Elementary. There might not have been a game that day, but the Cainhoy Tigers were still having a Homecoming.
Even though Cainhoy stopped being a K-12 school in 1996, and is now solely an elementary school, the community still has a tremendous amount of Tiger pride.
LaWanda Glears, the principal of CHE and an alumna herself, said that when the school did serve high school students, Homecoming was a huge deal.
“People got off of work early, and they looked forward to the parade and coming together as a community to go to the football game,” Principal Glears said. “I always felt that the school was the community and vice versa. We work closely together, so I wanted to bring us back together again.”
With such a small community, it turns out that bringing everyone back together is easier than one might think. Through word-of-mouth and the use of Facebook, graduating classes from the ‘60s to the ‘90s came back to Cainhoy Road to celebrate what it means to be a Tiger.
“It’s unique because this school was a one-stop shop,” Keith Anderson, Class of 1989, said. “Everyone knows each other. So seeing everybody here now it’s like, ‘Wow, this one building held us all!’”
Anderson added that he was most excited to see all his old classmates, many of whom he hadn’t seen since graduation.
“I got all my gray hair and some of them have gray hair, but that’s what makes it special… just to see everybody after all these years,” Anderson said.
Principal Glears said recently when she talked with her fellow Cainhoy High classmates they noticed that when they do come together it’s normally a somber occasion because it's frequently at the funeral of a former classmate.
“We don’t want that,” Principal Glears said. “We want to come together and celebrate.”
Well, mission accomplished!
To start the day off right, Cainhoy Elementary introduced its Homecoming court and crowned Zaya Wynn as Homecoming Princess, Bentley Frasier as Homecoming Prince, Blaire Richardson as Homecoming Queen and Bricen Beaufort as Homecoming King. After the coronation, all former Cainhoy employees were invited up to the stage to be recognized, too.
From there, the party continued with good music, great food and trips down memory lane with old friends. Throughout the day, donations were accepted to support Cainhoy Elementary. Currently, CHE has raised almost $60,000 from the event and donations are still coming in.
“People are coming up to me and saying, 'Thank you! We just appreciate you bringing us back together again,'" Principal Glears said.
And don't worry, Tigers! Homecoming 2023 is already in the works.
"Yes, there will definitely be another one next year because they’re asking for it!”
Original source can be found here.
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