This past month was filled to the brim with football, floats, and most importantly, fun. Walkersville High School’s Homecoming Week started from September 26, eventually culminating in the dance on October 4th. If you weren’t able to attend any event, it’s all right because in this article we are covering from the start of spirit week all the way to Saturday night. Here’s what you missed.
Spirit week
The Student Government Association (SGA) set up a week of clothing challenges before the main events could even begin. They’re the backbone of planning for Homecoming week, and this year the spirit days planned were taken to the next level. “SGA plans and executes the pep rally,” SGA president Jamelia Tubman said, “We get all the people to sign up, get the games ready, plan everything and just wait for the day to happen.” For the newly established Heart of a Lion challenge, sophomores took the win by the end of the week by having the most participation in each spirit day, earning 20 points each day. “There’s a lot more that goes into planning for this week than people realize,” SGA advisor Dr. Girard said. “It takes a huge crowd to help since we do the parade, pep rally, dance, spirit week and cleanup.”
Pep Rally
Friday was when Walkersville saw great highlights of the week at the pep rally. Throughout the school day, the students were able to participate in a Rock Paper Scissors tournament, organized by the National Honors Society. Mrs. Skena, the advisor of the club, has been leading the planning of the competition since its origin two years ago. She says, “It’s not really difficult to plan; the society members take time to distribute bracelets into bags to place into the teacher’s mailboxes for them to grab and give
out to their first block students–then it’s up to the students once the rules are announced and the tournament begins.”
Every student was packed into the stadium stands by grade level and watched as their peers competed in various challenges and saw performances from the Poms and cheer teams, featuring some staff members showing off their moves as well. The games played during the pep rally were dizzy bat and a three-legged and relay race.
Parade
While the pep rally closed out the school day, there was still more fun to be had at the homecoming parade. Mrs. Humphries was in charge of creating the parade lineup and was able to make everything successful with a few hiccups. “I was the middleperson regarding communications between the leaders of the floats and the planning committee. It was difficult to find everyone involved to ask about their lineup, but everything turned out well,” she said. She also created a new organization system for the parade as well, using chalk on the road and giving assigned numbers to each float for the participants to know where the floats were supposed to be. Different sports, clubs, and nearby organizations walked or rode down from Glade Road all the way to the high school. With the Walkersville Volunteer Fire Department and the Marching Lions leading the way and the homecoming court ending the line, 47 different floats came down the road, with a record 13 tractors in the parade. Children on the street were ready with bags and buckets to receive candy from the ongoing floats.
Football Game
The stands were packed at 6:30 that same Friday for the homecoming game against Governor Thomas
Johnson High School. Thomas Johnson tried their best but Walkersville won in a whopping 72-27 landslide, with Coach Thompson leading the team to victory. He tries to give the players self confidence and the opportunity to be enthusiastic about themselves to have that feeling reflect themselves intrinsically: “It’s a good feeling when we can be successful in front of our community, especially since this game had a large crowd and we had the support of our alumni there. Everything felt exciting and positive that night.”
Homecoming Dance
Saturday was the big night everyone was waiting for: the dance. Students dressed in formal wear and dresses started filing into the school around 7pm. The school was lit up with fairy light as the decor matched the Enchanted Gardens theme voted on by the students. “It took about 2 months to plan homecoming, but we also took some time at the beginning of last year to have students vote on the theme as well,” said Jamelia Tubman, the student government president. Administrator Dr. Bell took on the role of being the Master of Ceremony for the night and urged all the attendees to have a great time. The songs ranged from modern pop, country, Afro beats, and Latin music, making sure people from everywhere could enjoy the music and feel represented.
Future of Student Participation
The Heart of A Lion competition is new to Walkersville this year, and it’s been a huge success since its introduction. The idea was brought to fruition by the Yearbook Club and Publications Class. “We started this in the beginning of the school year to bring some more school sprit friendly competition between the staff and students,” Chloe Renee, a member of the Yearbook staff, said. “It’s a great way to bring everyone together in a new, fun environment.“ Word of the year-round contest has spread and brought student involvement to new heights.
