1940s
Even though World War II occupied much of the world’s attention, much of student life stayed consistent. However, many students and alumni served in the military. An article in 1941, explains how many ex-students and alumni won’t be attending Homecoming because they are overseas. Nevertheless, the homecoming celebrations continued, band performances went on, students joined fraternities, etc. Voting for homecoming court was a big deal and is a tradition that has continued but the methods have changed. St. Mary’s wasn’t a co-ed campus at that time, so the nominees were usually from other campuses. Female students from Our Lady of the Lake and Incarnate Word would also act as contributing writers for the Rattler. In terms of advertisements, cigarette ads remained commonplace throughout the 40s. Oyster Bake was still an important St. Mary’s tradition. However, it was far from how we know of Oyster Bake today.