The spirit of Homecoming

It’s a Saturday afternoon in September, and instead of being at the mall or a movie, almost every Clarke student is sitting on the cold metal bleachers watching as Clarke versus Island Trees in football. This isn’t just any football game that has the ability to bring out the entire school. No, the reason everybody comes out is because it was Homecoming.
This year, Homecoming has taken on a new meaning at Clarke High school. It has exceeded past year’s floats, hallway decorations, and school spirit. This year’s Homecoming even got our long-lost Ram mascot out from his long years of hiding. The cheerleaders and our beloved Ram helped motivate the crowd to cheer on our football team. Though we lost in the last quarter, it left me wondering what exactly is it that makes Homecoming different from all of the other football games during the season. Is it the sense of school spirit that it fosters? Maybe it’s all of Clarke coming together to root for their team? Maybe it’s the excitement of watching your class’ float come out? Maybe it’s the enjoyment of the halftime show with the cheerleaders’ routine or the band’s music? The truth of the matter is that Homecoming is a million different things, that all come together as a way of uniting all of Clarke with school spirit.
Homecoming was not only the Sept. 26 football game, though. Clarke has stretched homecoming into a full week. In that week, Clarke has various “dress-up” days in which students put on outfits to match that day’s theme in order to show their school spirit. This year the five days were: Pajama Day, Jersey Day, Twin Day, Mis-match Day, and School Spirit day. Clarke’s students really took the outfits up a notch from past years. From Monday’s nightgown attires complete with matching slippers to Thursday’s mixing ankle socks with tube socks and flip-flops with Ugg boots in order to complete the idea of “mis-match”, Clarke really far surpassed past Homecomings.