Homecoming week: an annual tradition celebrated in high schools, based around football and a dance. It is meant to be an exciting couple of days where students have fun and come together as a whole to help build school spirit throughout the week before the big football game on Friday night. At Potosi, students create locker decorations, a wall design for their class, a skit, and a float all based on a theme. Different schools celebrate homecoming in different ways depending on the size of the school and the sports teams. Students find it to be fun but sometimes stressful, which everyone knows, but only a few people really know how teachers feel about it.
Homecoming week can be fun and exciting for teachers. “The energy in the school is much higher,” said science teacher Amber Patterson. Students are excited about homecoming and the activities so they bring the energy into class and make it more fun. Teachers also enjoy watching the Power Hour activities because they get to see happy and excited students. “I am excited for homecoming week,” stated art teacher Rahni Haverland. Haverland gets to see the students get creative and work on something that they are passionate about, which is fun to see but it makes her room extremely busy. At Potosi High School, the Friday of homecoming week is always the most fun. We have powder puff football, volleyball games, and other fun activities. “Getting to play volleyball against the boys will be fun,” said Patterson. Every year, it is a tradition for a group of senior boys to play volleyball against the teachers. Homecoming week is not just a week for students to have fun; the staff also enjoys it.
Although Homecoming Week can be fun, sometimes it is stressful and can cause some chaos for teachers. “It is very draining on staff,” said Patterson. Because students are so excited and pumped up, sometimes they forget that they still have to learn and do some school work. Students just don’t listen as well. “It is a little stressful,” said Haverland. Students are in the art room a lot because they have to decorate their class’ lockers, walls, and floats. The week seems to take a lot longer for teachers when they can’t focus on teaching class and instead have to worry about keeping the students focused. It’s a relief for teachers when homecoming week is finally over because they can go back to normal.
Homecoming is celebrated differently at every school. When Rahni Haverland was in high school, she didn’t have a homecoming at all because she was in such a small school. They didn’t even have most sports because there were not enough people to go out for them. Belmont High School goes all out for their homecoming week. They have tons of activities like a school carnival and a rodeo on the weekend that anyone can participate in. At Prairie Du Chien, students do all of their decorating on Friday instead of being able to work on it all week long. Instead of doing power hour activities, they do activities in their homerooms.
Overall, teachers have mixed feelings about homecoming week. It creates a fun environment in the school where students are excited, but it also makes classes harder because students tend to not listen as well. Sometimes they enjoy it, and other times it can be stressful for them. Schools also celebrate homecoming differently which can affect teachers differently. Even though it’s hard, most teachers still enjoy it and think it is a tradition worth continuing.