Founded in the early 19th century, the annual tradition of homecoming is an autumnal staple for high school students around the country. Homecoming began at the University of Missouri as a call for alumni to “come home” and participate in a spirit rally and parade for a crucial game against the college’s football rival, the University of Kansas. 

Since then, homecoming festivities have spread nationwide to college and high schools, and have grown to include popular traditions like the homecoming dance and powderpuff. Over the years, Carlmont students across all sorts of programs have worked hard to make homecoming week as spirited as possible. 

Some of the activities that have been added to Carlmont’s homecoming week include the Spirit Bowl (formerly known as Powderpuff), In It To Win It game night, and float building. 

The Associated Student Body (ASB) director, Jim Kelly, credits this with the growth of participation in homecoming events.

“There’s a lot more people involved, and I think that’s sort of an overall change to Carlmont,” Kelly said. “There are more people involved in the games, the assemblies, the float, the decorations, and more people go to the dance.”

According to Kelly, the week’s events as a whole contribute to the success of homecoming.

“What we find is the more that we can give to the student body, the more the student body is willing to give back to us through participation,” Kelly said. 

But the variety of weeklong activities is just the beginning – homecoming doesn’t kick into high gear until Friday when the homecoming assembly and football game occur. Cheer, dance, band, and ASB members all perform at the homecoming assembly, and football players are given special recognition as well. 

From games to an assembly to a culminating dance, the packed agenda of Carlmont’s homecoming week wouldn’t have been possible without the time and effort the Carlmont community put into preparation.

Carlmont’s ASB facilitated the busy week’s activities, with each commission primarily working on a specific event or activity. Whether it was the dance commission choosing a venue, the assembly commission communicating with clubs for their performances, or the class officers brainstorming spirit days, all the members of ASB worked hard to plan and execute a week full of excitement and spirit for students.

“Preparing for homecoming week has been busy but enjoyable for the class officers,” said senior class vice president Katie Peacock. “We started a month ago with planning spirit days and have spent a lot of time outside of school working on other activities too.”

The class officers are widely involved in multiple parts of homecoming—on top of running class competitions and brainstorming spirit days, they also helped out with the homecoming assembly, football game, and dance.

“The officers spend a considerable amount of time outside of school setting up, planning, and decorating for activities,” Peacock said. “Homecoming week is a significant event for the Carlmont community, so we hope to make sure it goes well by helping out as much as we can.”

While the class officers played a crucial role in homecoming, other commissions in ASB were hard at work as well. 

For instance, the assembly commission planned the homecoming assembly that students and staff gathered to watch on Friday of homecoming week.

With multiple groups such as drumline and Advanced Dance performing, this commission coordinated with all performers and participants to ensure the assembly ran smoothly.

“Our commission has been really amazing,” said Siena Farrell, the co-facilitator of the assembly commission. “We’ve had so many great ideas, and it’s just been so amazing working with other groups at Carlmont and getting to put everything together for this assembly.”

Although ASB had a major role in homecoming preparation, other Carlmont groups also devoted their efforts to creating a memorable week of school spirit. 

For the assembly, students in Advanced Dance diligently choreographed and rehearsed a dance to perform for the school as one of the assembly’s acts. 

“This year, we took three songs and choreographed pretty sporadically, basically just teaching steps to one song at a time,” said Genevieve Gervais, a senior in Advanced Dance. 

Gervais and Lola Lagerloef, a junior in the class, worked together to choreograph the dance for this year’s assembly. Before performing, the pair expressed their excitement to see the culmination of their teaching and rehearsing at the assembly.

“I’m excited to know what it looks like,” Lagerloef said. “I can’t wait to see all the costumes and everyone dancing, to just see how everyone looks when everything is put together.”

Homecoming week is a testament to the dedication and collaborative spirit of the Carlmont community, with each person’s effort contributing to an unforgettable celebration of school pride.

“This time is so important because school spirit is the backbone of a school’s community,” Farrell said. “Homecoming hypes up and makes people excited. That’s why I know myself and others are so motivated to work together to make this week as special and successful as we can.”

On the night of the homecoming dance, whether it’s before, during, or after the event, students get together to make memories filled with fashion, food, and fun.

The sound of voices carried a mile away as the spirit of Carlmont came alive during a fun-filled week of Homecoming festivities.

Students look forward to this week each year as an opportunity to get together and embody the spirit of Carlmont. This year was no exception, as students came together for the first or last time ever to celebrate the heart of homecoming.

Homecoming festivities hit a running start with uniquely themed spirit days such as Wild Coast vs. Wild West, Neon vs. Blackout, Jersey Day, and a Friday finish with Bleed Blue to represent Carlmont’s colors.

“Homecoming is just an action-filled week where you have so many opportunities to have fun at Carlmont, and it’s not often that so many fun activities are packed into just one week,” said ASB executive board member Audrey Wong.

Each day was full of excitement and spirit, featuring spirit bowl, In It To Win It games, and float making, but all were looking forward to the exciting Friday and Saturday activities.

“It’s really fun that there’s just one activity after another, like In It To Win It; I feel like a lot of people don’t know about it, but that’s one of my favorite ASB activities,” Wong said.

The significance of the plethora of activities throughout the week was an opportunity for each diverse Carlmont student to find where they belonged the most.

As a great display of spirit, Carlmont students and staff assembled an activity-filled Friday assembly with varied performances and fun games for the whole student body. Looking up at the crowd, the sight of smiling students cheering on their peers on the gym floor embodied the supportive community brought out by Homecoming festivities.

“The best part of the assembly is just seeing all the students together in the gym sharing that Carlmont spirit; it’s really great to see,” said Carlmont Principal, Gay Buckland Murray.

Carlmont staff equally share the excitement for homecoming week as an opportunity to get together and have fun. For the first time, members of Carlmont staff put together a Beetlejuice-themed homecoming performance at Friday’s rally.

“We decided, ‘Let’s do this let’s show our school spirit’, and it was really fun to get together with all the staff members to build the performance, I really appreciate all the work that they did,” Murray said.

Later that night, students, staff, and parents joined for the last Friday night football game of the school year. ASB’s screaming scots lined up along the track to get the football games’ student section crowd excited and energized.

“We’re just here to lead the crowd, to make student sections as hype as we can be because that makes the best time for everybody here,” Wong said.

The week’s culminating event brought the festivities to a thrilling end at Saturday night’s homecoming dance held at Hillsdale’s Pinstripes for the first time ever.

Homecoming Week represents Carlmont as a community of students and adults joining together to display the supportive and positive energy that brings meaning to the word spirit.

“I look forward to putting my all into it and having the best time I can,” Wong said.