Fostering a sense of school pride and community, the annual Homecoming (Hoco) Spirit Week of events and themed days is a week students and the OH community look forward to each year. Filled with so many events and opportunities, there is no reason not to get involved in the fun.
The first day of the Hoco events was the Hoco parade on Sun., Sept. 28, which is organized by OH Student Council. OH Student Council member and senior Carmela Arch said, “The Homecoming parade is a really fun event to attend because it brings everyone together and shows off different clubs and school spirit.”
During spirit week, our OH Student Council sets up days where we dress up as a certain theme. Arch said, “The most fun part of spirit week is how hype up everyone gets! So many people come up with creative ideas, which inspire others to join too.”
It is always fun to walk in the hallways and see the ideas our students have, from dressing to the Lorax to dressing as your favorite teacher.
These dress-up days prove that our students have creative minds. OH Senior Emma Szatkowski said, “I like dressing up in themes cause it gives me something to look forward to every day.”
Dressing up in spirit wear is always a blast, but so is the big Hoco football game. Our student section always roars with excitement, cheering on our football team.
Although football and dressing up for Hoco spirit week are fun to some, a lot of people do not tend to participate in these fun events, which is unfortunate. It’s a good break to put on something fun and see what others come up with throughout the day.
“One thing I would change about Hoco spirit week is maybe have people vote on the themes for spirit week, that way everyone is excited to dress up,” said Szatkowski. This could be a great way to bring more spark to the student body and have more participation in school events.
It would also be nice if we were able to wear what we want during Hoco Spirit Week. “One thing I wish I could change is having fewer restrictions,” Arch agreed. “There are definitely more fun things we could do if the school weren’t so strict.” Spirit week is all about showing school pride and having fun, so restrictions can dampen the creative minds of our students.
Some examples of these restrictions include hats or anything that could distract other students. More people might participate if they could wear extravagant and fun spirit wear.
Keeping it fun and safe by switching things up this year, the prep rally was moved up a few periods, which also helped some of the seniors who have early release attend. The prep rally has so many fun activities for our students to participate in or even just watching and cheering on our classmates helps the spirit go on.
This school year’s Hoco spirit week was a blast and brought everyone closer together and ready for their school year. My advice for Hoco ’26 is for students to participate and have some fun in their high school years, bringing spirit to their school.
Hello! My name is Jessica Bellah and I'm a senior and this is my first year on 42Fifty Staff. You can contacts me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication!
