It’s that time of year again: homecoming week! Filled to the brim with activities to boost spirit, homecoming week is a busy rush of events, which require time and preparation to get done. But who actually planned everything? And how did they go about picking the theme, decorating the space, planning the games and organizing the pep rally?
“The homecoming theme is picked usually one to two years in advance,” Piper Sheets (’28) said. “Ideas are brainstormed and presented by SGA members, then voted on. For example, we already have next year’s theme, but the following year’s is a mystery!”
This year’s theme was Back to the Future, which led into ideas for spirit week and the pep rally games.
“We figure out what’s realistic and could actually work, then practice the games and determine what the best ones are,” Sheets said. “We sometimes will try to fit the theme to the pep rally, but oftentimes we just go with the most fun games. We also tend to incorporate games that can include as many people as possible, because we want everyone to get the chance to participate in the pep rally.”
This year’s games included a car race relay, where students had to collect objects to put together a “car,” then drive their “car” through an obstacle course to win; the table relay, where teams form a line on the ground and one team member is rolled over the others on top of a table; and tic tac toe basketball, where teams shoot hoops to earn Xs and Os in a game of tic tac toe.
“My favorite part of planning for hoco will always be the pep rally,” Sheets said. “While it can be stressful, it’s the most rewarding part of the process for me. Being able to see every single student involved is pretty amazing. I love being able to plan the details, figuring out exactly how everything will go and how we can make it run as smoothly as possible.”
As for the parade, the SGA assigns a parade committee to handle planning. The entire leadership team splits into groups to tackle all of the different homecoming tasks.
“A lot of the parade is collaborating and coordinating with other groups, whether within Madison or in the wider Vienna community,” Sheets said. “The order of the groups is set beforehand, and usually is led by something that matches the homecoming theme from that year.”
When the time comes for students to dance the night away, SGA works throughout homecoming Saturday to set up the event. Starting at 10 a.m., about half of the student leadership team arrive at the school to prepare. The SGA committee in charge of the dance handles decorations, including getting all items approved and bought through the school. After decorating the gym, setting up the photo booth and ensuring that all staff members are ready to support the event, the doors opened at 8 p.m. and the SGA got to see the culmination of their efforts.
“We begin planning homecoming a few weeks before the county fair, so almost the start of the year, then work nearly every class on it,” Sheets said. “I think it’s really rewarding because I get to see a lot of student involvement at school and being able to physically watch my hard work pay off is really awesome.”
