Sophomore Government Welcomes Freshmen Home
Homecoming is the first big school-wide event of the year, and for freshmen, it’s their first introduction to high school events. However, it also remains a signal to all students that the school year has begun. In recent years, there have been changes made to make spirit week and homecoming more exciting for all students.
“We talk about school spirit quite often at house meetings as it is a concern [to] many of us. We usually discuss how we can improve pep rallies to increase energy and how to modify spirit week to get more involvement,” SHS School Government president Natasha Pereira ’24 mentioned.
The School Government recently launched an initiative involving a point-based system alongside spirit week to increase participation across the grades. The spirit days included Pajama Day, Color-by-grade, Barbie Day, Anything but a Backpack, and the classic Maroon and White theme. Seniors won spirit week this year and will earn a prize that is yet to be determined.
Like last school year’s spring pep rally, this pep rally was held indoors.
“I am personally a fan of having it indoors because the energy is better,” Pereira mentioned. The event included performances from all the sports teams, a club showdown, and a teachers’ relay. Some highlights from the event include a re-enactment of the U.S. Open doubles win with beach balls performed by the girls’ varsity tennis team, a game of musical chairs played by the girls’ and boys’ varsity soccer, and a dodgeball game between girls’ field hockey and football. The club showdown included a tug-of-war among Jabberwocky, Maroon, Breast Cancer Awareness Club, and DECA, with Maroon winning.
”It was really interesting seeing all the people and all the clubs,” Alice Suh ’27 expressed.
A recent addition to the homecoming lineup was a pizza party hosted by the sophomore class government for freshmen and sophomores. The goal was to bring together underclassmen to raise school spirit and make attending the game less daunting.
“It’s just an easy event; kids love pizza, something low-key before a game. Come and hang out, even if you’re just making friends in 9th grade, and then go check out the homecoming game,” sophomore government advisor Christopher Hughes commented. The event had a great turnout, and freshmen met up with their friends before the game.
“It’s actually been really fun. Before I came here, I got ready with my friends at my house… It’s been really nice hanging out with my friends and seeing them because when I was in middle school, we were all separated by houses. So now getting to have big events like this with all my friends is actually so great,” Suh remarked.
Homecoming is also important for our cheerleaders. It’s a big fundraising event and also a time for the new members of the team to practice the new cheers.
“The cheers themselves are relatively easy, but because we have offense cheers, defense cheers, touchdown cheers, and crowd cheers, there is a lot to memorize,” cheer team captain Audrey Ryan ’24 mentioned. Besides fundraising, the homecoming game is a time when the team gets to perform a little bit of their routine for the crowd.
There was a large presence of school spirit at the football game. Students showed up in black and filled up the student section to cheer on the football team.
“School spirit is about creating a community, and anytime we can bring the students together, we are working on that goal. We had a great turnout at the pizza party, which carried over to the game and certainly the student bleacher section,” sophomore government advisor Eileen Cagner said.
