AMU/APU Homecoming 2026

October is Homecoming month at American Military University and American Public University, and while our university community may not gather around one physical campus, that does not make Homecoming any less meaningful.

Our students and alumni are spread across the United States and around the world. We learn from military installations, hospitals, offices, homes, classrooms, deployment locations, and communities thousands of miles apart. Homecoming gives us an opportunity to temporarily close some of that distance and celebrate the university community we all share.


Throughout October 2026, AMU and APU are bringing together students, alumni, faculty, staff, and members of the broader university community through a month of activities, events, service, and opportunities to connect.


Whether you are currently working toward your first degree, completing graduate education, or graduated from AMU or APU years ago, there is a place for you in this year's celebration.


Traditional Homecoming celebrations often revolve around a physical campus, football game, parade, or one weekend when alumni return to the university they once attended.

Our community works differently.

AMU and APU students may complete an entire degree without ever living in the same city as another classmate. Our alumni continue their careers across nearly every profession and geographic region imaginable. Many members of our university community are active-duty service members, veterans, working professionals, parents, healthcare professionals, public servants, educators, and others balancing education with lives already well underway.

That geographic reach is one of the defining characteristics of our university.

Homecoming gives us a chance to turn that distance into something positive.

Rather than asking everyone to return to one place, Homecoming comes to us.



Homecoming is ultimately about people.

It is an opportunity for current students to see the larger university community they are becoming part of and for alumni to reconnect with a place that played a role in their education and professional development.

It may mean attending a virtual event, participating in a Homecoming activity, sharing your university pride, reconnecting with someone from AMU or APU, or simply taking some time to explore what is happening across the university community.

For alumni, Homecoming can also be a reminder that earning a degree does not have to be the end of your relationship with the university.

There are opportunities to remain engaged through networking, mentoring, professional development, volunteer service, alumni programs, university events, and organizations such as the Health Sciences Honor Society.


For current students, that same community can provide a glimpse of what comes next.

The person participating in a Homecoming event alongside you might be an alumnus working in the profession you hope to enter. Someone you meet may have completed the same graduate program you are considering. A conversation may lead to mentorship, professional advice, or simply a new connection with someone whose educational experience began in many of the same virtual classrooms.


One of this year's Homecoming activities was the 2026 Homecoming Virtual 5K, held from October 1 through October 11.

A virtual 5K fits particularly well within the AMU/APU community because participation is not limited by geography. Participants could complete the distance wherever they happened to be—on a neighborhood street, walking trail, treadmill, military installation, local park, or their own favorite route.

The event also connected Homecoming with something larger than university celebration.

The 2026 Virtual 5K supported Wreaths Across America, whose mission focuses on remembering fallen service members, honoring those who serve, and teaching future generations about the value of freedom.

Participants were also encouraged to share their experience using:




There is no single way to participate in Homecoming.

Some people may attend several events throughout October. Others may participate in one activity that particularly interests them. Alumni may use the month as an opportunity to reconnect with the university, while current students may discover programs and communities they did not previously know existed.

The important part is simply finding a way to engage that is meaningful to you.


The individual activities are important, but Homecoming becomes much more meaningful when we look beyond the event calendar.

It gives us a reason to reconnect.


For members of the AMU/APU Health Sciences Honor Society, Homecoming reflects many of the same principles we are trying to build into our own community.

HSHS brings together students and alumni from nursing, healthcare administration, public health, health sciences, military medicine, research, education, behavioral health, allied health professions, and many other areas.

Like the university itself, our membership is geographically dispersed.

That means we also have to be intentional about creating opportunities for connection.

Homecoming is one of those opportunities.

An HSHS member may participate in an event alongside someone in a completely different health sciences discipline. A current student might meet an alumnus who has already navigated the professional path they are considering. An experienced healthcare professional may have an opportunity to offer perspective to someone just beginning their career.

Those interactions do not have to be formal to matter.



There is something particularly appropriate about celebrating Homecoming within an online university.

Many of us chose AMU or APU precisely because our lives did not fit neatly around a traditional campus experience.

We may have been stationed somewhere else.

We may have been working full-time.

We may have been raising families.

We may have been deployed, changing careers, working night shifts, moving between duty stations, or completing assignments after everyone else in the house went to sleep.

Our classrooms may have been virtual, but the work was real.

So were the late nights, deadlines, discussion posts, research papers, exams, sacrifices, achievements, degrees, promotions, career changes, and opportunities that followed.

Homecoming is an opportunity to celebrate all of that.

It is also a chance to recognize that thousands of other students and alumni have their own version of that story.



Homecoming continues throughout October 2026, with activities, events, campaigns, and opportunities occurring throughout the month.

Because event schedules and registration information may change, the university's official Homecoming page should be used for the complete and most current lineup.


Take a look through what is planned, choose something that interests you, and participate from wherever you happen to be.


Homecoming does not require a football stadium, a campus quad, or everyone gathering in the same city.

It requires a community willing to come together.

For some, that may mean reconnecting with the university after graduation. For others, it may mean attending their first university-wide event as a student. Someone else may participate in a service activity, make a professional connection, or simply discover another part of the AMU/APU community they did not know existed.

The experience will be different for everyone.

But that is also what makes our community unique.

We are spread across communities throughout the United States and around the world, yet for the month of October we have another reason to come together and celebrate the educational community we share.