BACK TO THE

Behind the Scenes of StuCo’s “Futuristic” Homecoming planning

Olathe West held its homecoming on Oct. 8 opening its doors and showing the final event that had come from weeks of preparation StuCo had done to create the event.

“We really started like months and months ahead of time,” StuCo sponsor Traci Russman said. “We know every year we’ll have buff puff, powder puff, the carnival, and the bonfire.”

The royalty candidates were announced during the pep assemblies, and were shown again at the football game.

“We collaborate with a lot of different committees and classes throughout the school,” Russman said.“We’re pretty lucky, we got a great crew.”

However the dance took more time and effort.

“We spent a lot of time working on it,” junior StuCo member Laci Lister said, “And it was really cool to see all the things we spent several meetings working on. It was really great to see it all and see the drawings we had in front of us. I think it turned out a lot better than we thought in our heads.”

In addition to the success of the decorations and planning, it was also massively attended.

“It was the biggest dance that we have ever had,” Russman said. “I’m going to go out on a limb and say the biggest dance in the district, because we had 12 to 13-hundred students at our dance, at least 200 out of school guests which is record breaking.”

One of the most important parts of planning homecoming was the theme and decorations for StuCo members.

“The decorations take more time,” Lister said. “Just getting everything ordered and stuff, I would also say buff puff and powder puff because there’s a lot of little things you have to do up until the dance.”

Kolby Brown is also a junior member of StuCo who was in charge of the decorating logistics.

“Overall, the StuCo setup for Hoco took over 10 hours,” Brown said. “It took a little longer than usual, but clean up only took 30 minutes, which is a record.”

StuCo chose an unique theme, bringing some questions and doubt when it came to planning.

“I think when we all heard our theme we were a little apprehensive,” Lister said. “We wouldn’t really expect that, and it was kinda a last minute theme thrown out. A lot of people had the idea of Star Wars, but I think we took a different take on futuristic themes and went with like neon, bright colors, glow in the dark and moon and stars.”

However, the results StuCo saw when the dance concluded met their high hopes.

“I feel like we’ve pretty much set a standard for us,” Lister said. “We set the bar so high that at this point everyone wants to come to our homecoming because it’s going to be so great and I’ve heard we decorate the best in the district because most schools don’t take it to this level.”

Homecoming 2022 was a success for StuCo, and the members pooled all their efforts to create a week full of events for students to enjoy.

“It’s a really great team effort,” Russman said. “Sophomore class in particular did a lot, like the bonfire, and Ms. Parker and Mr. Bryan were super helpful. We’re a super good tight knit team and we all really support one another and work well.”

StuCo members spent time working together to create a week full of events for students to enjoy.

“It’s a really great team effort,” Russman said. “Sophomore class in particular did a lot, like the bonfire, and Ms. Parker and Mr. Bryan were super helpful. We’re a super good tight knit team and we all really support one another and work well.”