In years past, the Homecoming date has been as late as mid-October. However, this year, the dance was pushed up and will take place this Saturday.
Student Council sponsor Rachel Cook helps her students in the Homecoming process. She said she met with many people to find a date that would fit the students’ schedules and finalize it.
“Traditionally, it’s been [planned] around one of the football games … We have four home games [this year],” Cook said. “There was a band conflict interfering with one of the Friday night games; they [were attending] a competition the next day, so they wouldn’t be [at the game]. We thought that was a key component to a football game.”
In order to find a time and day that could be convenient for the school’s population, Cook had to meet with others involved in the planning process.
“Something that a lot of people don’t know is that there is a meeting in May where some of the head sponsors and people in charge meet and discuss the upcoming calendar for the entire next year,” Cook said. “A lot of these things are planned in May, where we take into consideration the athletic and activity calendars and what works best for the most people.”
However, with Homecoming being so early, there are certain things affected by the time crunch, both positive and negative.
“The one thing that I didn’t like is that it was so close to freshman elections,” Cook said. “I didn’t think it set the freshman class up to be successful, but it really encouraged the freshman representatives to take charge early.”
Senior representative Ainsley Arthur is one of the StuCo members who played a role in planning Homecoming. She and the other students helped create the theme, dance, hallways and royalty, among other things.
“People don’t really know how much goes into it — truly — until you’re actually the one doing it,” Arthur said.
With the earlier date, there have been struggles for those involved. But, in the end, Arthur said she thinks the outcome is favorable.
“I think it’s made it a little harder for us because we’ve had less time to be able to prepare,” Arthur said. “But at the same time, it brings that school spirit earlier in the year and it gets people excited.”
