Sophomores John Cox (in the white shirt, far left), Jessie Ricuad (in the purple dress, middle left), Bianca Bringuel (in the orange sweater and skirt, middle right), Jena Smith (in the dog costume, middle) , and freshman Alex Bringuel (in the green shirt, far right) dressed as the gang from Scooby Doo for Character Day, which started the Spirit Days for Homecoming Week.

Last Wednesday signaled the start of Homecoming Spirit Week with Character Day. Sophomores John Cox, Jessie Ricuad, Bianca Bringuel, Jena Smith, and freshman Alex Bringuel dressed as the gang from Scooby Doo to kick off the three-day fun fest. 

Dress-up days continued Thursday with Decades Day. Each grade level dressed in clothes from different decades.  The freshmen wore 1950s greaser styled clothes; the sophomores enjoyed wearing hippie themed clothes from the 1960s.  The juniors came to school dressed in tie-dye shirts and bell-bottom jeans; the seniors came decked out in their best neon windbreakers and legwarmers. On Friday members of the senior class followed Panther tradition by wearing togas  while the other students were encouraged to don spirit wear.

A parade consisting of each grade’s Homecoming Court and various clubs traveled down Robinson Road from 5:30  to 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. The floats lined up at Braelinn Elementary and followed the marching band all the way to Panther Stadium.

“Eight floats and several golf carts from various sports and clubs lead the parade,” Student Government Association sponsor and English teacher Whitney Thompson said. These floats featured cheerleaders, dance team, football players, and a float for each grade level.

The football game started at 7 p.m. Friday night, thirty minutes earlier than usual, to allow time for the announcement of the Homecoming Courts at halftime.  The Panthers won the game, defeating the Mt. Zion Bulldogs, 49-22.

 Nominees for the Homecoming Court walked onto the field. The King and Queen were seniors Ike Kamalu and Alex Goodman.  The junior Prince and Princess were Channing Park and Amanda Regan. The Duke and Duchess were sophomores  Connor Chewning and Megan Steele, and the  Lord and Lady were freshmen Khaji Williams and Yuri-Grace Ohashi.

The Homecoming Dance, also held on Friday,  ran from  9-11:30  p.m.  in the gym. The  Class of 2016 Executive Board, which sponsored the dance, purposely orchestrated a more casual, preppy “club”  atmosphere to encourage students to come over right after the football game  dressed as they were. The Panthers won the game, defeating the Mt. Zion Bulldogs, 49-22.

“This year about 600 students attended the dance,” said  Spanish teacher Laura Alldredge, one of the  2016 Executive Board sponsors.  That represents an increase from last year when approximately 400 students attended, said Science teacher Angie Davis, one of last year’s sponsors for Homecoming Spirit Week.