Homecoming is wonderful and arguably the best week of high school, it is a nationally celebrated week with fun activities and traditional dance to end the week off. But not many people know how it started or why we even celebrate it.

Homecoming started as a celebration and would usually be the first football game of the season. Schools would welcome back their alumni who had moved on from the school.

But now, it is a celebration for the students at the school they usually have all kinds of activities. They did powder buff football where the girls would teach the boys to do volleyball and the boys would teach the girls to flag football. Students had so much fun. 

One student named Parker Gnyra a junior who participated in volleyball said, “I just thought it would be a fun way to show school spirit during homecoming week, ” He also commented, “The days where you dress up or bring anything but a backpack are the best,”.

This Thursday for homecoming week students is emplored to dress up for the grade they are in. One of the special dress-ups is the seniors who dress in togas. The school has run that tradition for 40 years, juniors must dress for a day at the beach and sophomores must bring out their inner superheroes with a fun dress-up.

Now you may wonder how the school comes up with these fun activities for homecoming. 

“We have 97 members in Student Government who work hard to put on all of the events during Homecoming Week.  It also takes hundreds of other students and sponsors/coaches from other organizations to put together booths for Extreme Fest, march in the parade, and perform in different events. The marching band, cheer team, and dance team all play a large role in multiple events during the week,” said Scott Cohen (coordinator for Student Government).

Now, how does Student Government come up with these fun activities? Well, Mr. Cohen answered with, “Most have been Smoky Hill traditions for 15+ years,”. 

The final event with Homecoming is the dance, it is one of the best parts of the week with students dressed up and celebrating school spirit. The theme this year was the Wizard of Oz.

“StuGo [Student Government] comes up with the theme.  They have to give a presentation for their final exam in May on a theme idea and then the entire class votes to select the theme for the next school year,” Cohen said.

StuGo has a very large part in creating the fun and magic of Homecoming every school year.

This is the first year freshmen are experiencing this week and they are very excited about the activities one student, in particular, Sophia Calderbank talks about her first experience with homecoming week, and what she was most excited for.

“I am excited about the dance because I get to dress up and celebrate with my friends,” said Calderbank, “I am going to the football game and tailgate,” 

You can see just how much these students love Homecoming at Smoky Hill and all of the fun things celebrated on this lively weekend the traditions the school has commemorated for forty years and more years to come.