[ot-caption title=”The seniors bid a spooky message to the underclassmen. (via, Sophomore Peyton Elias)”]

When Homecoming kicked off on Tuesday, so did several different spirited activities. Each class strove to gain as many spirit points as possible by Friday through activities geared to artistic, athletic, and overall spirited students. Each day was filled with more activities and opportunities than the next, making Homecoming Week a competition for the coveted spirit stick.  From class colors, to green and white day, each grade went all out in order to come home with the winning title.

Speaking of class colors, each grade was assigned one for homecoming beginning freshman year. When the seniors graduate this year, their color will be passed down to the incoming class of 2020, and the colors will continue to rotate. Freshmen are yellow, sophomores are red, juniors are blue, and seniors are orange/black.  In correlation to their class color, each grade decorated an assigned hallway with their corresponding color, a recent homecoming tradition created last year that has become one a favorite.  Freshmen decorated the language wing, sophomores the math wing, juniors the English wing, and seniors the history wing.

The freshmen jazzed up their hallway with bright yellow caution tape and countless “fresh” signs.  Freshman Katerina Viyella stated, “I feel like the caution tape is a sign to the upperclassmen that the freshmen will soon catch up and beat them.”  New to high school and the homecoming experience, the freshmen hallway showed a promising start, and hopefully they now understand what homecoming is all about so they can rock their sophomore year with confidence and even more spirit.

As for the sophomores, they heated things up with a red hallway consisting of 2018 sign in fiery paper and other red hot accessories.  “I think we did much better than last year because we are a lot more organized,” said Sophomore Ryan Felberbaum. Adding on, Math Teacher Mr. Hileman exclaimed, “The sophomores have burnt down the house with the hallway! Congratulations!”

The juniors got creative with their under the sea theme.  By bringing in blow-up sea animal pool toys and other nautical accessories, they transformed the English wing into a deep-sea wonderland. Junior Valeria De Las Casas confidently noted, “We’re going to win.”  She was right as they won first place in this category for their insanely creative concept and overall decoration abilities. English Teacher Mrs. Ortega commented, “My hall, the English hallway, was the junior hallway, and they brought us under the sea in beautiful blue.”

Finally, the seniors spooked the high school with a Halloween-themed haunted house. In doing so, they cautioned the underclassmen to “beware” with their spooky signs and skeletons. AP Human Geography Teacher Mr. Snyder remarked, “I’d say classy, scary, not the best I’ve seen, but certainly far from the worst.” Senior and Homecoming King nominee Matthew Merrigan said, “Seeing the senior hallway all decked out in orange and black is such a morale boost on my way to Euro.  Hopefully, the haunted house theme intimidated at least one underclassmen, but it’s mostly all fun.”

Now put it all together to form the perfect recipe for homecoming:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 language wing, a freshman-only zone dressed in yellow
• 1 math wing, where the sophomore spirit exploded in a bright red
• 1 English wing, where the juniors dove deep with their inspiration in blue
• 1 history wing, a mysterious mix of orange and black where seniors haunt the underclassmen

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix thoroughly with a large dollop of Panther pride
2. Watch Pine Crest’s school spirit shine!

Even though the high school engaged in a spirited rivalry of classes, we were still united as one school. Friday, the spirited green and white dress-up day, and the Homecoming Game brought the perfect finale to homecoming week.  Everyone came together to root for one thing: our love and appreciation for Pine Crest.