Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back former students and members and celebrating an organization’s existence.
It is a tradition in many high schools & colleges in the United States. Under normal circumstances, Mount SI High School Homecomings consisted of a pep rally before a Friday night football game and a big dance the next day.
Two hours before the game, there would be the homecoming rally. The rally would have food trucks, school clubs in booths and a small parade running by the school. The parade consisted of clubs and sports decorating a car or truck and riding around while students cheered them on from the sidelines.
After the rally, the students would go into the football stadium and watch the game. At halftime, the Homecoming royalty gets selected and honored on the field while their pictures are taken.
The next day is the dance. Usually, ten to fifteen kids go together. They find a nice place to take photos and then head off for a nice dinner. Sometimes the groups pool their money to purchase a limo or party bus to take them to their few destinations for the night.
After dinner, students go to the dance, put on by the homecoming and assemblies committee in ASB, and then go home or go to an after-party. It was fun, and much looked forward to event.
But of course, Covid-19 changed everything.
Knowing that this was a weekend of excitement students looked forward to all year, the committee tried to persevere with as much tradition as possible while still being covid safe. That left them with their best bet, the parade.
Planning took about a month and a half to work out all the details, get approval from the city and much back and forth emailing with school administrators. They pushed through the long and stressful process feeling it was a good cause, school and community spirit, in a much-needed time.
“It’s going to be cool to see people in person at the parade! The hybrid school has been great so far because of this, but it will be nice to see people in a nonacademic setting also!” -Logan Garwood 2021 boys golf
If you would like to participate in this fun event. It will be on April 30th, 2021, at 5:30 pm. See the photo below for the location.
Floats will be created by the clubs/sports participating in the parade, they can be cars, trucks, or trailers. The driver MUST be an adult (either a parent or club advisor) and the school appropriate float can have two student passengers.
STUDENTS WANT A FLOAT? Fill this google form out ASAP!
This year they will be selecting two different seniors from each club and sport to represent their organizations. They will be chosen by the coaches or leaders of the activity and will be on the float during the parade.
Says student Maggie Mitchell, 2021 girls soccer, “It is so exciting to be able to celebrate our final season of high school soccer. It is sentimental to me after all these years, knowing the memories I have created. The parade will be so great to get a big recognition for our seniors graduating out of the program.”
If you are planning on watching the parade:
- Masks are required over the nose and mouth.
- 6ft social distancing must be observed.
- Markers will be on the ground to mark where you should stand.
- Supervisors will help regulate the 6 ft rule and masks to keep everyone safe.
They want a big crowd says Rachel Friedman, head chair of the homecoming and assemblies committee, “This is our first (post-Covid) real-life event, and we want it to be epic! We really want this to not only be for Mount Si students but for our community as well!”
[See slide show for more info HERE]
