Although the Homecoming dance, carnival and pep rally were canceled due to COVID-19, the Student Council will make sure students can still participate in some of the traditional activities like spirit days, Homecoming court and mums and garters next week. Senior Class President Morgan Zimmerman hopes that students will take advantage of the activities next week to enjoy Homecoming, even if it looks different this year.
“I think when people hear ‘Homecoming’ they think of the dance and they’re like, ‘Well, Homecoming is canceled,’ but that’s not the message we want out there,” Zimmerman said. “We spend a whole week celebrating Homecoming, and that week at our school is not going to be canceled.”
The Student Council officers decided on a “there’s no place like home” theme before the dance was canceled. Zimmerman said that it will still be incorporated into next week’s Homecoming festivities and was used as inspiration for the spirit days.
“We wanted to honor Marcus because it’s the 40th anniversary, so we were just going to emphasize the fact that Marcus is our home,” Zimmerman said.
The Homecoming football game will be held on Oct. 30 under the same social-distancing restrictions as the other games this year.
“Our Homecoming game is going to be like every other football game, where seniors will have first priority to the 100 tickets,” Zimmerman said. “Unfortunately I don’t believe other grade levels will be able to attend unless they come with their parents.”
Senior Class Treasurer Katie Coolidge said that the school will do the Homecoming court as well, although it will look different to maintain social distancing. The king, queen and other royalty will have to be photographed separately.
“We can’t do it on the field, so it’s going to be on the track and the seniors can’t bring their parents like they usually do,” Coolidge said. “Everything else is going to be the same, pretty much.”
All the officers agreed that they are trying not to get discouraged as they plan events for the year because they aren’t sure when rules and regulations might change. However, Zimmerman said that being in charge of planning events can be extremely stressful.
“I think being in a leadership position, a lot of people will look to you,” Zimmerman said. “When Homecoming happens, people know that we kind of make the decisions, and they can get upset with what’s happening. We can’t really control that, so we just try to be optimistic with everything.”
While the officers are aware of the difficulties that come with planning the school year in a pandemic, they are still trying to uplift students’ attitudes and increase school spirit. Senior Class Secretary Allie Herrera said this year can still be memorable, especially due to its unique challenges.
“I think it can be special because we’re forced to be really creative this year, and we’re trying to make the best out of it with everything that we can,” Herrera said. “I think we’re just using all of our resources.”
The Student Council officers have also been discussing how they can do a fundraiser with the COVID-19 restrictions. They have brainstormed ideas such as a district-wide scavenger hunt and a movie night.
“We just want students to be involved and have something memorable that they can look back on this year,” Zimmerman said.
While no one is sure what to expect of this year, the Student Council officers want to reassure students that they are still planning ahead. They hope this will interest students and that conditions will return to normal soon.
“[We’re] still planning things that are far in advance, even though we don’t know what our world is going to be like then,” Coolidge said. “We’re still planning Mr. Marcus, acting like it’s going to be normal, but we don’t really know. [We’re] just trying to still plan things as if we can do them.”
