Homecoming week has come and gone once again, and it was filled with as much spirit and energy as ever. Student Council, as well as many other groups, played key roles in making sure the 2017 Homecoming Week would be as magical as possible.
Student council was in charge of the homecoming parade, pep rally, and spirit days. Additionally, they facilitated the nominating, voting, and crowning of homecoming court, where Student Body President Jade Ealy announced the king and queen during halftime at the football game.
“[Student council] started brainstorming [homecoming] themes last year, though cheer ultimately decides the theme. We were just trying to help give them ideas,” Easy said. “We really started planning like how week would look on our part around early July.”
Spirit days are a staple in annual traditions during homecoming week. Student council was in charge of organizing spirit days that coincided with the theme, Once Upon a Homecoming. From there, they created posters and decorations to make the fairytale magic alive around the halls of Timber Creek.
“Brainstorming themes and decoration ideas [for the spirit days] is pretty difficult and … a lengthy process, just because we want so desperately to make everything that we do as enjoyable and as inclusive as possible to all,” Ealy explained. “Grace Krug was the officer mainly in charge of [homecoming] and she did a phenomenal job. I can’t sing enough praises about her and her leadership.”
In order to spread school spirit among the student body, student council takes the time to carefully plan their pep rallies and makes sure there is no time wasted. With sports teams being represented, games that involve the student participation, performances from the band, cheerleaders, Sky Dancers, and Violet Belles, it can be difficult to cram so much in the last roughly 30 minutes of the school day.
“Running a pep rally is more difficult than many might imagine, just because our pep rallies are timed down to the minute and a lot of people don’t know that. We have to make sure that everybody is where they need to be when they need to be there,” Ealy continued. “With so many people involved, such as students participating in games, sports captains who are talking in behalf of their sports, [and more], it can get really hectic.”
This year, the homecoming pep rally was run solely by the student council leaders. Whereas supervisor Stacey Cleveland is usually available for guidance, Ealy and other officers made sure that everything ran smoothly with her off campus.
“It was extremely satisfying to have successfully executed the [homecoming] pep rally in the way that we did. It was so crazy and I was running all over the place trying to make sure things were going smoothly, but luckily my officers are literally the best ever and they had everything handled,” Ealy said. “I seriously love them so much, and I couldn’t be any more proud of all of us. We work really well together and I’m really thankful for that.”
The annual homecoming parade allows many organizations at Timber Creek and around the community to show their school spirit and be recognized for their contributions. One of student council’s many roles is to manage the plethora of floats and attendees that participate in the parade, making sure there are as little bumps in the road as possible.
“For the [homecoming] parade, Mrs. Cleveland contacts all of the organizations wanting to participate and then proceeds to compile a lineup with which the different organizations ‘march in’ during the parade, for lack of a better word,” Ealy explained. “We then have to make sure that all of the organizations have the correct information necessary to assure that they are in the right place at the right time.”
As the bustling homecoming week came to an end, student council and other organizations were finally able to catch a break, as well as step back to reflect on their accomplishments.
“None of anything that we do would be possible without [the other student body officers] and without Mrs. Cleveland as our role model,” Ealy said. “It really does take a village.”
