By Addison Gernenz | Copy Editor
Baylor Homecoming is just around the corner, and for many students on campus, this time brings nostalgia and bittersweet happiness as seniors prepare for their final homecoming as undergraduate students.
Throughout the week, banners are hung from trees and buildings, Fountain Mall is prepared for the bonfire, Dr Pepper Hour gears up for its biggest hour of the year and campus comes alive with heightened school spirit.
Pantego senior Miles McCavit is among these seniors feeling sentimental as the weekend approaches.
“Getting to see the atmosphere come together is, to me, a big part of it,” McCavit said. “I like walking around campus at this time of year … that’s something I’ll miss a lot as a student.”
McCavit is a member of BYX — the All-University Sing winners of 2025. He has continued his role as Sing chair from the Spring, this time as a Pigskin chair.
He said he is honored to have this opportunity, specifically because it connects him to his mom, a Baylor graduate.
“This one is especially sentimental because of being in Pigskin,” McCavit said. “It’s just a different thing being able to participate in such a cool tradition, and it may be the last time that I ever get to do that kind of thing.”
Pigskin is just one of the many homecoming traditions around Baylor. There’s also the homecoming parade, the football game and the bonfire. Coppell senior Jenna Branstetter said she holds all of these traditions fondly.
“My freshman year, I have a really fond memory of watching the parade with my friends early in the morning and picking up candy from the ground,” Branstetter said. “I also loved the bonfire. It was a great time to spend with friends late on campus, and it is something I am definitely going to miss.”
This is the first year Branstetter will be participating in homecoming as more than an onlooker, and she is excited to ride a float for Eta Sigma Phi, Baylor’s chapter of a national Classics Honors Society.
When Dallas senior Caleb Griffin thinks about homecoming, he looks back on his childhood and forward to life after graduation.
“I’ve actually been coming to homecomings for longer than I have memory of my own life,” Griffin said.
A multi-generational Bear, Griffin grew up attending Baylor football games and watching the Homecoming parade.
“Afterward, we would go walk by and meet all the people who made the floats, and sometimes they would give us little pieces of the floats,” Griffin said. “… I still have some of those pieces that I got from a dozen different floats throughout years past.”
Griffin, who originally came to Baylor for academic and career opportunities, said he’ll miss the friendships he found at Baylor most after graduation.
“Joining communities in Baylor has really been unlike anything I’ve experienced before,” he said.
Griffin said he takes great pride in Baylor culture and is looking forward to contributing to the experience and giving back.
“I think it’s my last chance to really … participate from the side that is putting on the event for both former and future Bears to come and get at least a sliver of the full Bear experience,” Griffin said.
For Griffin, Baylor has changed his life. He sees homecoming, and his time as a student, as a way he can impact others’ lives.
Branstetter, who credits the university for being part of her personal growth, echoed this sentiment.
“To me, being a Baylor Bear means getting to participate in a community of people who genuinely care about my growth as a person, whether it’s intellectually, spiritually or emotionally,” Branstetter said.
McCavit encouraged students not to take advantage of the time and opportunities Baylor provides, especially during homecoming.
“It’s a unique thing to get to be in this time and place and get to participate in these super fun things which … honestly, I probably take for granted more than I should,” McCavit said.
For some seniors, knowing this is their last homecoming as a student is bittersweet. As they transition into the alumni phase, new opportunities open up.
“I don’t like to think of this homecoming as my last homecoming ever,” Griffin said. “I like to think of it as my last homecoming as a student, because I’ll definitely be back in future years.”
