Homecoming 2024 is an exciting time for EHS students.
“It gives people a chance to interact with people they normally wouldn’t. It also gives the freshman a sense of excitement that there are a lot of fun things to do in high school,” said senior Ada Brown.
The spirited week kicks-off Saturday, September 7, 2024, with Hallway decorating. This is when separate classes, 9-12, decorate sections of the school to reflect the homecoming theme, “Meet Me at Midnight,” For many students, it’s a great way to kick off the school year, “I can’t wait for homecoming week,” said La Marr Sykes (25)
Searching the library archives, a yearbook page from a 1946 Englewood annum, shows a calendar of sorts that includes October 28 as the date of Orpheum performances. This is believed to be the start of Homecoming traditions at EHS. Orpheum performances were a vaudeville tradition including games, performances, and dances.
If we count this date as the beginning, this year would mark 78 years of Homecoming activities.
Spirit weeks are filled with fun and memories. There is time for you to express who you really are, show off some of your cool fits, and break out some old clothes that have just been sitting in your closet for the past couple of years.
“Spirit week is awesome. It’s like, everyone’s just like, dressing up and stuff, and very fun,” said freshman Ashton Holly.
Spirit Week takes place several times during the school year at Englewood High School. This takes place the week of a big event. As an example, a dance like a homecoming. Every day for a week there is a different theme for people to follow to show off some of those cool fits that you have in your closet. Some themes are like decade day, color day where the grade you are in has a different color, and twin day where you match with a friend.
“It’s a cool event and I enjoy it. They’re different styles every day. My favorite one is probably the one we did yesterday, the 90s or the decade one. That was the one I liked the most,’’ said Sophomore Julian Azua.
Homecoming is an annual tradition in the United States. People, towns, high schools and colleges come together, usually in late September or early October, to welcome back former members of the community. It is always built around a central event, such as a banquet or dance and, most often, a game of football. The football game is played on a school’s home football field, activities for students and alumni, a parade featuring the school’s choir, marching band and sports teams, and the coronation of a homecoming queen (and at many schools, a homecoming king). A dance commonly follows the game or takes place the day after the game.
Pep rallies, assemblies, and football games have long been a part of Homecoming activities. It wasn’t until the 1960s that the first signs of school spirit in the form of dressing up began to appear at schools around the country. Typically, classes built a homecoming float and would compete for the best “class” creation. However, after Covid, that tradition died down.
What stayed was daily dress-up events that pit classes against each other for points. Students who dressed up earned points for their class.
This year, the juniors won the competition as more juniors than other classes dressed up on individual days throughout the week. Many students enjoy spirit days, “I like to be involved with school activities,” says Ryan Garcia (25).
Some might carry this experience into adulthood, “I like to participate in school spirit because I like enjoying school memories,” Darey Hermosillo Cordero (25), “Participating and joining the activities.”
But many students can agree that the special day to have spirit week is the “Homecoming game,” Garcia and Cordero (25) said in unison.
Students at Englewood High School poured out onto the front lawn to paint flags and show school spirit, “The memories last forever,” said Makenna Keoppel (25). For the two weeks ahead of Homecoming week, seminar classes decide on a slogan, colors, and a design for their flag. Students will carry their flag during the assembly.
For EHS seniors, flag painting is tradition, “I like it because they enjoy thinking about names and designs, and then the flag shows who belongs with who during assemblies,” said Kai Robb (25′). The tradition dates back several decades at Englewood High School and gives a sense of belonging to Seminar classes. Flag painting started on August 28, during Seminar time.
Flag painting on the front lawn of EHS is the first official activity of Homecoming Week. Students look forward to the events, “Homecoming week always gets people excited,” said Crystal Santos (25), “I’m intrigued to see how spirit week turns out,” said Kimberly Montes (26).
For others, it is one event, “I can’t wait for the Homecoming football game,” said Albert Goorman (25), “I’m most excited about the football game and the school spirit,” said Aspen Loebig (25), “I’m excited about homecoming,” said Bella Rose (28).
Hallway decorating is a way for students and teachers to collaborate and create an engaging environment during Homecoming. They focus on what the theme is and use student artwork, displays, or decorating. The students have their own section of the hallway to decorate by grade, these places include classroom doors, bulletin boards, and the walls.
”I enjoyed watching how the students work together to accomplish their goals and vision for each hallway,” said school librarian and Student Government adviser, Anne Drees. They only typically decorate the hallways when a special event at the school is occurring like homecoming so they can feel invited and excited.
“Everyone did a good job on working on them, you can tell they put a lot of effort into it,” said Ma’kayla Mcclendon (26).
Decorating the school hallways can lead to a positive atmosphere that encourages school spirit.
The concept is simple: come to school in a white T-shirt with a white lie written in bold, black letters on the front. Students at EHS stepped up their game and came up with unique sayings. Tall students wrote, “I’m 4′ 11”, while smaller students wrote, “I’m 6’4”.
Everyone, from students to adults around the building at EHS, is excited and looking forward to the upcoming Homecoming dance later this week, on Saturday. The halls are filled with school spirit and full of people awaiting the dance.
Lila Downing, the administrative assistant to the principal, loves seeing the school spirit around the halls.
“I love it. I love the decorations. I think that it’s a refreshing change from the last few years. Love to see the school spirit,” Downing said.
Speaking of the last few years, we asked Ms. Downing to describe the history of homecoming week at EHS, “I’m an old timer, so I’ve worked in the district for 25 years, and I’ve seen lots and lots of changes. We’ve lost lots of the historical things that we did, but we’ve also gained some new ones, and I like the recent additions.”
Sometimes, she admits, she needs a little help understanding the dress-up days, “I do love dressing up for Spirit Week. Like I said before, I’m an old timer, so I had to have people tell me what White Lies were and Rhyme with no Reason. But it’s okay, it’s a learning curve.”
“So far, by the spirit I see, seeing the people dress up. Just seeing the creativity,” sophomore Levi Aragon said.
From the ultra-cool 60’s to big hair 80’s, students and staff went all out for Decades Day on the Tuesday of Homecoming week.
Frat Bro, Tennis Pro and Average Joe, Wild West, and Princess, Superbowl, and Rock and Roll. Students and staff came up with creative rhymes for this unusual dress-up day.
On Wednesday, September 11, students dressed in “rhyme for no reason day,” where you and a friend would rhyme. Freshman teacher Rosemary Wulf and Paige Vielbig paired together to make a good rhyme, “Since today is Rhyme without Reason, I am wearing Twizzlers and Ms. Paige is a rizzler,” said Ms. Wulf, “To add another thing I believe that teachers who dress up should be allowed to get points for their grade that they teach,” as every grade was competing with each other to see who would win spirit week and earn the ship wheel for their grade.
Lots of people and a lot of energy filled the Randy Penn stadium on
Wednesday September 17, 2024. This was for the annual PowderPuff game during Homecoming week. Senior/Junior athletes took the victory over the Sophomore/Freshman team 26-6
Freshmen Bella Rose Lansdown had never played, “It was fun but I was bummed that we lost.”
Staff member Cara Armstrong was on the field watching the girls play their hearts out, “I love coming to Powerpuff game to support our girls and watch the boys cheer for them then after the game I Iike going to the bound fire.”
Senior Naomi Vazquez had mixed emotions as this is her last Powderpuff game, “Before the game, I was excited because it was my last year playing with all my friends.” She knows, experience is important, “I did think we had an advantage and that we were easily going to win.”
Vazquez was really excited to see a huge crowd come out for this event, “I think it went well, a good amount of people came to show support, and playing is always very fun.”
The game is coached by football players on the EHS roster. Boys dress as cheerleaders and learn cheers, chants and stunts supporting the players. Photos by Sophia Savoy
For decades, EHS students have stood around a raging fire on the grounds of the school to celebrate Homecoming. This year was no exception as the Denver Fire Department doused the piles of wood with kerosene and lit the 2024 bonfire. The band played the fight song and the crowd basked in the light.
The bonfire is a long-held tradition that Englewood High School does every year during homecoming week after the Powderpuff game. Everyone gathers around the bonfire to watch it light up, with the firefighters coming to ignite it. The yearbook class is the one that builds the bonfire.
“The bonfire would be cool and hot. I like going with my friends and boyfriend and was most excited for the fire to light up,” junior Emily Moreno said.
Cara Armstrong, a support staff member at EHS, was helping at the Powderpuff game, “It was going to be ‘fantastically’ fun and I am excited for it to light up big.” She wanted to see the firemen take the fire out with the big water hoses.
Nehemiah Bryant and Shawn Mendoza are both new 9th graders at EHS, “The bonfire was pretty cool but wasn’t as good as the one from last year’s bonfire,” Bryant said.
“It was fun and cool but could do better,” Mendoza said. They both went with friends and family. Mendoza said he wished that there were more things to do at the bonfire.
Thursday of Homecoming was a day of celebration. Students boarded buses for the annual parade around Englewood elementary and middle schools. Students in clubs and activities hype up the rest of the district and get students excited about high school Homecoming activities. Then, when the parade returns to EHS, it’s time for the pep assembly. Students chant the school fight song and play games.
There was a large crowd on hand for the annual Homecoming football game against Littleton on the Friday of Homecoming week. The Pirates put on a stellar show with a solid win 63-0. The homecoming court was presented during halftime and Naomi Vazquez and Joe Carter were crowned Royals.
Homecoming Court 2024
Freshmen
Carolina Chavez
Baylor Kaaz
Sophomores
Isabelle Bouchard
Daniel Cullin
Juniors
Violet Cuenca Fregoso
Maile Manfre
Dylan Noll
Thomas Theis
Seniors
Joe Carter
Sarah Claveria
Nana Essel-Arhinful
Brookelyn McCann
Joseph McMains
Naomi Vazquez
Homecoming Dance and the new rules
There was news about the new homecoming rules at EHS. The ability to go to a dance was tied to your attendance. Students shared their thoughts on the change. Senior Joe Carter doesn’t mind it, “The new rules are fair and balanced from what I can see, it makes students make more of an effort to get these fun things.”
The new rules are that if you have an attendance rate of 95% you will be able to get into homecoming for free, and if you have an attendance of at least 75% you’ll have to pay, but can still go.
Recently another Homecoming rule was changed in that homecoming tickets will not be available to buy the day of and instead will be sold at lunch in front of the library.
“I think the new rule of buying tickets before hand because it’s more organized,” junior John Jones said.
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