Homecoming, what every High schooler looks forward to. The dance, the music, and just the fun time of hanging out with friends having a good time. Sadly, this year at Blackford Junior-Senior High School there was not a homecoming dance because of COVID-19.
In replacement of the dance the school held a “Homecoming Hangout,” the hangout time was Fri. 6:30-9:30. There was an entree fee of $2, you can also purchase pizza and beverages. (Unfortunately, this event was canceled.)
Blackford also had their dress-up days like they usually do, but because of the weather, we didn't get to participate in it because school got canceled all week. The dress-up days were: Tuesday was favorite character day, Wednesday-Red out day, Thursday-Neon day, and Friday-Bruin pride day.
Usually, here at Blackford, we do “class days” on homecoming week. Class days are where every grade dresses up. For example, freshmen will dress up as babies, and seniors will dress up as grandmas or grandpas. Unfortunately, this year there wasn't a class day because, “there was ISTEP testing, and there were a lot of cancellations this week for school,” quoted Emily Huffman.
I asked Emily more questions because she is a member of the student council, which is in charge of homecoming. I asked Emily why they didn’t do a game night this year because they usually do. She said they weren't allowed to host it because of COVID, which has had a lot of negative effects this year with school and after-school events. I then proceeded to ask her, “Why did you choose these dress-up days?” She responded with, “We figured with testing and if we would have gone to school they would have been easy days, and more people would have participated in it.”
I asked Emily to explain homecoming week she said, ¨usually in past years it has been really fun, also it is a really good way to get everyone to come together and have fun.¨ Emily said her favorite thing about homecoming week is the games, and when it was during football season because the football game on Friday night. Emily's least favorite thing about homecoming week is, “some of the dress-up days haven’t been the best in that last couple of years, I feel like we always repeat the same days every year,” quoted Emily. The last question I asked Emily was, “If you could change anything about homecoming week, would you, and why?” She said, “Well I would obviously change having Corona so that we could have the dance, but I would also change having games too. But the biggest thing I would change is having it during football season because we would be able to have a bonfire if we could have it during football season.”
I interviewed a couple of students, one being Mathew Bailey. I asked them 3 questions starting with, “What do you like most about homecoming week?” Mathew responded with, “I would say the thing I like most about homecoming week is that it brings out a lot of creativity, I think it's really cool to see everyone else dress up in their creative outfits. It's just fun for everyone to come together and have fun dress days for a week.”
I then asked him, “What do you like least about homecoming week?” “I'd say the thing I like least about homecoming week is that I feel like our ideas have become original, like we do the same ones every year. Like we never have any new ideas.” Quoted Mathew.
The last question I asked was, “If you could change one thing about homecoming week this year, would you? Why? Mathew replied with, “I would change two things, the first one is since COVIDhas been a thing we don't get to have our dance, so that bums me out. The second thing I would change is the dress-up days, I feel like we do the same stuff and I wish we could just go back to the old days. Like where we had the gender switch days and toga and trash bag days, because of that no one really dresses up, so I would try to find some ways to get other people to participate.”
Next, I interviewed Kendell Hess and asked her the same three questions, ¨What do you like most about homecoming week?” She responded with, “I like dressing up the most.” “What do you like least about homecoming week?” She said, “The game.” Also, “If you could change anything about homecoming week this year, what would you change, and why?” She said, “Togas! Because I’ve been looking forward to it for 4 years now.”
The last student I interviewed was Jaycie Sones, I asked her the same questions. “What do you like the most about homecoming week?” “I like the school spirit the best.” “What do you like least about homecoming week?” She said, “I didn't like that there wasn't a homecoming court this year.” “If you could change anything about homecoming week this year, what would you change? Why?” Jaycie said, “I would change not having togas because we didn't get the chance, and I’ve been looking forward to it.”
I interviewed a few teachers and asked them how they feel about homecoming week. I first interviewed Mrs.Newlin, I asked her, what do you like about homecoming week, and what do you like least? She said, “my favorite thing is seeing all the kids dressing up. There isn't really anything I don't like about it.” The last thing I asked her was, “what would you change about homecoming week this year if you could change anything?” “I wish you guys could have a convocation but obviously because of COVIDyou can't, I also wish you guys could decorate the hallway too.”
The next teacher I interviewed was Mr.Allen. “The snow ruined it all this year” Quoted Mr.Allen. I then asked him, “what do you like about homecoming week?” He said, “I didn't even know homecoming week was happening this year because of COVID and everything.” Technically homecoming week didn't happen because of all the cancellations, due to weather. Mr.Allen said, “the snow ruined everything last week for homecoming.” The last question I asked was, “if you could change anything about homecoming week this year, would you? Why?” He said, “I would want the dress up days to not be ruined by the weather. Also, I wish we could have had a pep session.” Due to covid, we couldn't have a pep session this year.
The last teacher I interviewed was Mrs.Hundley. I asked her first, “what do you like most about homecoming week? Mrs.Hundley said, “I like the student spirit and the participation, like when students participate and get excited for the days.” I then asked her, “what do you least like about homecoming week” “I don't like that the snow messed it all up.” Quoted Mrs.Hundley. Most teachers weren't happy about the snow, I bet students were too because they didn't get to dress up
Overall, most people were upset about not getting to have a homecoming week this year, or just the homecoming dance in general. Also, people seem to be really upset about not doing the togas or dressing up in general. Since we didn't have the homecoming dress-up week this year due to weather since basketball sectionals are coming up, we are having dress-up days for that. So some people will be happy about that since they are upset about not getting to have the dress-up days, and not enjoy the school spirit, maybe they will be able to for the basketball sectionals.