On Saturday, September 22 at 7:00 p.m., hundreds of high school students dressed up in formal clothes and dresses will enter into the Under the Sea themed field house to have a night full of dancing and laughter.
Every year, homecoming is planned and set up by Student Council, which is sponsored by social studies teacher Jenna Berzy. The members of student council show up in the morning the day of homecoming to set up for the event happening later in the night. This year they are starting their setup at 11 a.m. They plan to decorate the field house with items that will fit the theme “Under the Sea” like seaweed and jellyfish.
The freshman this year will experience their first formal dance and pep rally. The girls will be asked to the dance for the first time and the guys will ask someone for the first time. The seniors will experience their very last homecoming while having the chance to be on homecoming court. They get the chance to walk across the football field in front of the hundreds of people that come to watch the football game. There, the boy and girl who gets the most votes will be crowned homecoming king and queen.
This year the boys will take on the Boone Grove Wolves on September 21. The game will kick off at 7 p.m. Students who plan on attending the game should wear black, gold, and white to show off their school spirit. There will be a $6 entry fee into the game for students and adults that do not have a Panther Pass.
Before the game, there will be a parade which will begin at 5 p.m. The cheerleaders, Pantherettes, football players, class council members, and more will start at the YMCA, go down Broad street, and back to the high school, showing off their dances, uniforms, and floats that they have for that event. Each class will make a float that correlates with the theme. Before they begin the parade, a few staff members will vote and choose the most creative float.
Showing school spirit can help to pump up the football players for their big game that Friday. After all, homecoming has been a tradition since the 19th century. Since then, students of all ages have dedicated a week to the team. Every year, a spirit week is planned. Each day of the week, students in all four grades dress up. This year, dress up day is on Monday, character day is on Tuesday, USA day for freshman, sophomores, and juniors and gender swap day for seniors is on Wednesday, class color day is on Thursday, and black and gold day is on Friday.
Gender swap day is a day that most seniors look forward to. Because only seniors can dress up, they do their best to look as similar to the opposite gender as they can. The girls draw on beards and mustaches and wear hats. The boys wear dresses, wigs, and heels. They also put on makeup.
Homecoming shirts are sold each year with a design that goes with the theme. This year they were sold by Berzy in room H-219 and Jeff Kawa in room A-226 from September 4 to September 10. The shirts were only sold that week for $10. This year 100 shirts were sold. Students should wear that shirt on Friday of spirit week.