Like Lalani and the women who came before her, Clemons sees homecoming not just as a weekend of celebration, but as a living, evolving tradition that showcases pride and binds Baylor women and the Waco community.

Depending on when they graduated, Baylor alumni will give you a different profile of their time in Waco. From year to year, those differences might be as small as a better football record or a few new faculty, but when you compare Baylor of the 1970s to the campus we call home today, the two schools are vastly different.

“One of the early leaders of the Dr Pepper Museum was a Baylor alumnus,” Summar-Smith said. “He was a Dr Pepper drinker for many years, Wilton Lanning. So I think Waco has a lot of identity in Dr Pepper and a lot of identity in Baylor, and so they’re just a natural partnership.”

“It brings both Baylor’s campus and the Waco community together to celebrate our shared history,” Chiles said. “The alumni of the past are allowed to come watch an hour and a half long parade that showcases the best of Baylor and Waco.”

Beneath the beauty of a beach is a story that students do not see: shattered bottles, tar balls and food wrappers trapped in debris with micro-plastics glued to sand grains like scars. Even on Baylor’s campus, student events and daily activities impair waterways and air quality.