The return to school tradition

HOMECOMING 2021 CELEBRATION BRINGS MUCH NEEDED JOY

By Kaylee Miyamoto

For many years, MTHS has held a Homecoming dance, but this year’s homecoming events were different.

In September, elected ASB and Big Six met together to decide what will be of this year’s homecoming plans. ASB hoped for this year’s events to show that the school’s community would not give up despite restrictions.

“Homecoming is a huge community-building event. Homecoming is what brings us together,” ASB adviser Jeannie Brzovic said.

The week was planned in hopes of bringing the school together despite the pandemic, and Principal Greg Schellenberg said he appreciated seeing the work the ASB put into making the best out of a suboptimal situation.

“I appreciate the Big Six effort in coordinating homecoming traditions and events,” he said.

While Schellenberg understood that Homecoming wouldn’t be like previous years, his hope was that the communitybuilding aspect of it would remain.

Traditions such as a coronation, hallway decorating and the Homecoming football game were kept, while the dance and an all-school assembly were pulled out due to COVID restrictions. The school theme this year was “going through time,” and class themes were centered around different eras.

The senior theme was a throwback to retro pop culture, aiming for a broad and ambiguous atmosphere for senior students to enjoy. While the juniors entered a disco wonderland, sophomores danced their way into the Roaring ‘20s and freshmen settled into the Y2K era.

Instead of a traditional homecoming dance, the ASB decided to host a ‘’Homecoming Social under the stars.” In an effort to follow COVID protocols, the event was held outside, in the MTHS courtyard. To account for the cold autumn weather, space heaters were strategically placed throughout the courtyard, and from 8 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 16, the courtyard was lit up and filled with music and food. As it turned out, there was no rain and temperatures hovered in the low 60s.

While the dress code was formal, many brought jackets as it was late in the night and cold, and just as with previous events, certain COVID protocols remained in place. Just like the many homecoming events in the past, students needed to get a ticket beforehand to enter. While many students were concerned that a vaccine card would be required to buy tickets for the event and attend, this was not the case.

Within two days of being available, homecoming tickets sold out. According to Brzovic, ASB sold twice the amount of tickets as anticipated.

Tickets were $10 each, but for one day, they were sold for $5 with an ASB card as a special sale. Many students got their tickets as soon as they could, and they also secured guest passes, which were available as long as the guest was a student in the Edmonds School District.

Some students were concerned that, since the event was held outside, the weather would ruin the day. In order to account for that, tents lined with string lights were placed over the courtyard.

In order to follow all CDC guidelines, students were originally required to reserve tables, with only six students to each one. However, due to the volume of ticket sales, the ASB decided to make it an open seating system while still limiting the number of students allowed per table. Students were required to sign their names after choosing tables so that contact tracing could be done in case a student tested positive for COVID.

A big concern surrounding the Homecoming Social was the safety of the event in terms of COVID. Since students were not required to get tested or vaccinated prior to the event, extra precautions were necessary. However, Schellenberg said that if a student tests positive for COVID-19, contact tracing will be performed, just like it would on a regular school day.

“The entire school will not be shut down, and we will just perform contact tracing for those who identify as close contacts,” he said.

Another tradition that had to be slightly altered was the coronation of the Homecoming Court. Traditionally, winners would be announced during an assembly, but as a result of the need to follow social distancing measures, the assembly occurred across several days and was split up by class. Since the ASB couldn’t announce the results to the entire school on the same day, things were a little different this school year.

The homecoming election is a tradition in which the school votes for three royals and three for the court of each class, adding up to 12 royals and 12 for the court in total. Just like many years before, teachers, as well as clubs, nominated two students per grade. These students were reduced down to a list through teacher voting, and eventually, students received a ballot to vote for their Homecoming Court.

Voting took place the week before homecoming week, and royalty was decided by Oct. 11. Instead of announcing the results at the homecoming assembly as they normally would, ASB announced them at the Homecoming game, the day before the social.

The Homecoming football game against Lynnwood had an amazing student turnout to watch the Hawks play against Lynnwood High School. The Homecoming royalty was announced during half-time and the pep band showed up to play during the game.

The tradition of the Spirit Drum was kept this year as well. The Spirit Drum is coordinated by MTHS’s Band Director Darin Faul, in which different student volunteers continuously hit a bass drum for 24 hours before the Homecoming game, from eight p.m. the night before until kickoff.

Spirit day themes were also decided among the Big Six, and posters were up by early October. Monday, Oct. 11, was monochrome vs. tie-dye, Tuesday was matching in pairs or even groups of students, and Wednesday was a battle of emo or grunge against soft aesthetic fashion. With the school theme, Thursday was the “going through time” era by class day, and lastly, on Friday, the theme was class colors.

Class Hall decorations were, as tradition, judged by people of Schellenberg’s choice. The class with the best decor based on the theme won $500 in funding for their class prom. Seniors hoped for a “very broad” and “ambiguous” theme, with retro posters and references to music and pop culture from back in the ’80s and ’90s. Juniors went for a very bright and colorful display, groovy decor, and posters. Sophomores decorated with bunches of gold and black to go with the iconic themes of the Roaring ‘20s. Lastly, freshmen brought back icons from the Y2K era like Mariah Carey and Destiny’s Child. The winners were announced at the Homecoming football game to be the senior class, getting $500 more for their prom later this year. H

HOMECOMING ‘21 COURT

Freshman Court: Quinn Harmon,

Kaylee Miyamoto, Max Young Freshman Royalty: Kim Banh, Billy

Pham, Jeslyn Vuong Sophomore Court: Arian Motaghedi,

Natalie Cardin, Natalie Streuli Sophomore Royalty: Sean Brouwer,

Dani Cortezzo, Adam Wallis Junior Court: Seth Meyers, Ishah

Musa, Mya Sheffield Junior Royalty: Mason Cutler, Auvae

Levao, Laraine Sims Senior Court: Matthew Choi, Malia

Dominique, Kerensa Suzara Senior Royalty: Matthew Gesese,

Lindsey Ho, Damaris Ibrahim

The freshman hallway focused on the grungy style of the early 2000s music, culture and street

art. SOVANROM | HAWKEYE

The senior hallway evoked the strange, nostalgic designs of the 1990s by plastering the walls with bright colors from the era along with pop culture references. SOVANROM | HAWKEYE