By: MaryKate Stepchuk
As the students of Henderson High School walked through the halls on the Friday of homecoming week, they saw the finished product. They looked at the Honor Roll of Henderson, which was turned into the point scores for the houses of Hogwarts. However, they could not see all of the time and effort their classmates dedicated to those hallways.
While everyone else was easing into the school year, the student senate started planning for homecoming on the second day of school. As they walked into homeroom, Mrs. Rowe Wlodarczyk quickly informed the senate that they needed to pick a theme within the next 10 minutes. As people shouted out answers, they came to the conclusion of a “Movie Series” theme, but the stress and chaos would not stop there. On the sixth day of school, September ninth, they once again had until the end of homeroom to pick out five spirit day themes (an extra one in case one of the days picked didn’t get approved by Dr. Sherlock).
By next week, they had decided on our four spirit day themes: Pajama day, Philadelphia sports team day, retro day, each grade’s movie theme day, and as always, class t-shirt/senior jeans day. As the freshman officers and senators had finally been voted in, it was time for the grades to split up into their meetings. By the end of the third week of school, drafts were already drawn for homecoming hallways.
As the separate grades completed final drafts for their hallways and gathered their supplies, homecoming week was upon them, and it was time to start preparation. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, officers and senators would be staying at school until at least 4:00 pm to paint banners, cut out letters, etc. Of course, students who were not in the student senate were also helping out, but the leaders from the student senate were running the show.
As the week winds down and our sleep decreases, the fun is only just beginning. Thursday has arrived, and it is time to decorate the hallways. Most students helping will be at school past 6:00 pm, and some will be there as late as 7:00 pm. The main hallway of Henderson will be covered with tissue paper, ladders at odd angles, and black table cloths that won’t stay up on the walls. Kids will be screaming “WATCH OUT!” while the sheets covering the lights fall to the ground. Eventually, the final fairy lights will be hung, someone will rip the last piece of tape, and the ladders will be folded up once again, but they’re not entirely done.
The morning after. After they spend four and a half hours decorating the hallway, most of it will fall overnight. Fun, right? Due to the temperature and humidity changes, the walls of Henderson make it hard to hang up things, so officers and senators enter school at 7:00 sharp to rip a few more pieces of tape, which is called “the morning after.” But, alas, the hallways are done, and students are in awe of letters hanging from the ceiling, Spiderman on the wall, and a house that’s floating away in Henderson.
After all of their hard work, the student senate is now finally able to enjoy homecoming. Sophomore Trisha Prasanna described the week in two words: “exhilarating and exhausting,” and no one can agree with it enough. The week teaches our Student Senate students leadership, patience, teamwork, and that not everything will always work out, but you just have to accept and adapt to the changes. The work is done for the year, but there’s always next year.
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