HOCO 2022: A week to remember

HOCO+2022%3A+A+week+to+remember

Katie Cottrill, Staff Writer

During the final week of September, SHS celebrated its Homecoming spirit week. Monday, students dressed in their favorite college gear as SHS also celebrated College Go Week. Tuesday’s theme was Twin Day mixed in with triplets, quads and quintuplets! Adam Sandler Day Wednesday was easy. Students grabbed their mismatched and baggiest clothes, maybe from the floors of their bedrooms. Thursday was a hit: Soccer Mom vs BBQ Dad. Many people enjoyed this day and crossed over the gender line to portray their favorite. Then, Friday’s theme was class color. The freshmen wore gray, the sophomores in white, the juniors in purple and the seniors wore black.

The whole week leading up to Friday had many different competitions during lunch to see who won the new tradition, The Spirit Stick. The games consisted of a limbo competition, pie eating contest, and many more fun and silly events.

On Friday, students and staff had numerous amounts of fun and even more games. The band kicked off Friday’s festivities by playing “On Wisconsin,” “Shout,” and “The National Anthem.”  The females of SHS had the choice to participate in Powder Puff football, and the males of SHS had the chance to join the volleyball team. To recognize our growing Latino/a culture, coordinators from the Global Accent Club added boys’ and girls’ futbol/soccer. While those games were going on the field, the grades were still in the running for the Spirit Stick. Playing Six-Man Stack Up, a handstand contest, water relay, tug-of-war, and DeFeet the Panthers added to the point totals from lunches. In a close (and contested) finish, the seniors ended up winning the inaugural Spirit Stick and then got to end the day with their Senior Picnic at our local Oktoberfest. No athletic contests were part of the scoring for the spirit events. Congratulations to the junior Powder Puff team and the sophomore volleyball team for winning their matches. Also, the seniors tugged the teacher team to the ground easily. The Spirit Stick will be up-for-grabs during the winter HOCO events that include another week of dress-up days, lunch competitions, and a new halftime event during the students versus staff basketball game. Anyone ready for a dance-off showdown among the classes and staff? Get your class ready to choreograph a killer dance number with costumes, etc. More information will be coming later. 

All week led up to the homecoming game on Friday night. Each class nominated four students for homecoming court. The freshmen included Lane Mellencamp, Taylee Thompson, AnnMarie Shuler, and Liam Chandler. Michael Brooks, Audrey Newkirk, Hailey Burke, and Kelan Yates represented the sophomore class. The juniors chose Liv Hendrix, Willy Mateo, Anna Marks, and Jesus Aguilar. The senior nominees were Kensley Koester, Will Gray, Faithe Petty, and Alex Schlatter. The Homecoming King and Queen of the 2022 court were Will Gray and Kensley Koester. The cardiac Owls’ Football Team ended up victorious with the game on Friday night against the Jennings County Panthers 21-14. This was the third home game that ended with the Owls coming from behind in the final minute. While it was another nail-biter, seeing the students storm the field for the third time made another Friday night a great night to be an Owl.

Not only did football do well, but the Owls’ Tennis team defeated Austin to win their Sectional trophy. Austin had been a tough competition for the past two seasons, so the Owls are back on top! Congratulations, Owls’ Tennis!

The band also had an amazing final show Jealousy and Envy, performing “I Want You Back” by the Jackson 5, “Counting Stars” by OneRepublic, “Toxic” by Britney Spears, and “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers.  It was quite a successful homecoming week for everyone at SHS! Owls Will!