Fall 2021 Showcase Denoulet

Elise Joelle Denoulet

New Albany High School – A Homecoming Tradition

Since 1942, the New Albany High School has had the very same Homecoming tradition. The maids wear white, the queen wears a handmade maroon velvet dress, and every part of the celebration is meticulously prepared. Every year, the whole town stops and applauds the court at the parade, at the ceremony, and at the football game.

Kelly Coltharp recalls the days she was elected Homecoming Queen herself, but today, it is her granddaughter Caroline King who is under the spotlight. The new Homecoming Queen is being crowned under the emotional eyes of her grandmother, who cannot help but be proud.

This is the story of a tradition that gets passed along from generation to generation. While the world keeps evolving at a growing pace, small towns like New Albany, Mississippi, seem to be a guardian of traditions, a bubble in which these kinds of community celebrations are sacred.

Elise Joelle Denoulet is an MA in Journalism student at the University of Mississippi. Originally from France, Elise moved to Mississippi for her graduate studies after spending a year at Georgia College & State University as an exchange student and graduating from the University of  Lille, France with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Journalism. Her work usually includes the notion of culture, from exploring cultural gaps between countries to discovering the Southern culture that Mississippi so strongly represents. Elise is leaning towards working a career in documentary filmmaking or long-format reporting.