By: Alyssa Wismar

Homecoming week has become a tradition of welcoming back students to the new school year for decades now. Along with the dance and football game, there are spirit days throughout the week to build up morale amongst the student body, the election of a Homecoming court, and a pep rally to build up excitement for the weekend to come.

This year’s themed spirit days were visibly enjoyed by the students and staff. With Monday’s assignment being to dress in patriotic attire, red, white, and blue colors dominated our usual variety of hues in the halls. Tuesday’s goal was to have as many people wearing jerseys from their favorite sports teams as possible, and, from Buffalo Bills fans to Steelers fans, to even Eisenhower Knights fans, the spirit was building throughout the school. Thanks to the rising relevance and new movie, Wednesday was Barbie and Ken themed, which was a day full of pink and bright colors, creating many fun memories.

Thursday brought a new addition to the school week with a color war between all of the different grade levels in the middle and high school. Along with the title of the wars, small challenges came for the first members to arrive at the scene to compete in at the beginning of each period. Activities such as rolling a ball through the legs of eight people and switching, building puzzles in a group, tic-tac-toe with students, and more lead students to exert their school spirit (and a lot of their energy) into their school morale. Throughout the day, a scoreboard was kept to see how each grade was standing in the competition, and, at the end of Thursday, the Sophomores and Seniors were tied in points, until it was announced that the Sophomores won, mainly due to a five-dollar bill that canceled out most of the coins of the seniors. Friday completed the spirit week, with blue and yellow glasses being handed out to ensure each student who wanted could be decked out in the school’s colors.

Along with the colors of blue and gold being worn proudly on Friday, a pep rally brought the school pride and energy to the top at the end of the day. From the cheerleaders performing new and complex dance and cheer routines, to the well-planned entrances from the homecoming court, and games with the couples and members from different teams throughout the school, this pep rally was one for the books. Students were cheering and laughing from the stands for the entire duration of the pep rally, which was the perfect way to segway from the spirit week to the Homecoming weekend itself.

The entirety of the week, including the spirit days and pep rally, is composed of ideas and carefully planned activities from the Student Council. To give an insider’s point of view, The Squire interviewed Student Council’s Treasurer, Shael Standley.

In addition to the spirit days that were held this year, there were other options that the Student Council had in mind for the week. Narrowing down these ideas was a difficult task, and, as Standley shared, several potential spirit days were part of the brainstorm, making it tough to narrow it down to the final choice. Ultimately, it was decided to choose the days they felt most students would be able to participate in”. Standley also shared that out of the select spirit days this week, ‘Barbie and Ken’ Day was her favorite, because she, “… loved all of the pink that was seen around the school, [and] so many people participated which Student Council loves to see.” Standley also felt that a spirit day that helped to build morale was the color wars. She elaborated, saying, “… I thought the color wars were so much fun and brought lot of excitement to the school day. I think it brought everyone together and just was a super fun way to do so.” Standley believes that spirit day activities like this should definitely continue to happen. She also believes that by doing the color wars again, more people would participate, and it could grow to be an even better event than it already was this year.

Standley was an active member in the process of planning the pep rally. She described the process of planning it as, “kind of crazy, trying to fit so much into a little amount of time…” However, with multiple games, and cheering from the cheerleaders and students, it definitely worked out in the end.

When asked about the importance of school spirit days and pep rallies, Standley commented that she believed, “… having pep rallies and spirit days really brings people together. Seeing everyone together on Thursday for class color day really showed what having spirit days does, brings everyone together to have fun.” And that alone is truly what happened the Homecoming week of ’23.