One of the most anticipated events of the school year arrived and came back better than ever. Homecoming came in a flash for students and staff alike and voting was held for the theme of this year’s dance. After many votes came in, it was decided that the theme of Homecoming this year would be 80’s disco. This theme was incorporated with many of the activities surrounding Homecoming week. Students saw all the colorful decorations fill up the halls for the Homecoming events that started on Friday, Sept. 23.

The annual Homecoming assembly was the first in line for the events planned this year. This assembly introduced the Homecoming court and had them participate in different activities and games. The traditional game of musical chairs and the raft game were included in this year’s assembly. Junior Nate Maples ended up finding his place in the final chair of the musical chairs game, having him reign victorious over the other members of the court. For the raft game, involving teams of upper class versus lower class court members, the upperclassmen team was able to get their raft to the middle of the gymnasium first in order to obtain victory over the lowerclassmen.

“It’s always fun watching the court play the games, especially musical chairs,” Senior Class President Meg Ellison said.

 For the pie in the face challenge, students put change into teachers’ jars during lunch periods in order to join a raffle to have the chance to pie a teacher in the face during the assembly. Even with a messy aftermath, the pie contest was a way to not only get students involved in the assembly, but teachers and staff as well. In addition to the activities, the danceline team and the cheerleaders energized the crowd while performing their routines. This gave the teams a chance to practice in front of an audience before they performed at the Homecoming football game later that night. 

“Just watching everyone cheer for their class is always fun,” Ellison said.

The Homecoming parade came right after the assembly, letting members of the St. Charles community be involved with the celebrations as well. Multiple clubs were able to join this parade with their very own floats. All the floats were personally decorated by members of the clubs and these members gave out loads of candy to parade watchers.

“We encouraged people to do their floats according to the theme,” StuCo sponsor Melissa Kohr said.

With the goal of getting the community even more involved with the school’s Homecoming celebrations, the Homecoming carnival was held in the gym in the afternoon before the big game. The carnival featured booths from various clubs, an inflatable race course, fun snacks, and ice cream from Lyon’s frozen custard. StuCo sponsors and members felt there were some flaws in the event that can be improved looking toward next year. There was a very tight time schedule for the carnival which made it difficult for booth volunteers and carnival goers.

“Not doing the carnival the same day as Homecoming would be better just because for the people planning and working, it was a lot,” Kohr said. “We might move the carnival to spring.”

The Homecoming game was played against the Fort Zumwalt East Lions in the St. Charles High Stadium. The Pirates fought a hard battle, but ultimately ended up losing to the Lions with the score of 21-6. Nonetheless, the crowd was lively and filled with cheering. While the game was at halftime, the anticipated Homecoming King and Queen were announced as seniors Haley Newtown and Nik Pugh. The crowd and other members of the court celebrated the announcement of the winners.

On Saturday, Sept. 24th, Homecoming dance was held in the main gym. The 80’s disco theme was shown throughout the gym with the bright neon decorations and the large color changing dance floor. One add on that the students enjoyed the most was the photo booth. It gave students a chance to pose with some 80’s themed props to have photo memories of the night. All the decorations succeeded in embodying the 80’s theme, which added even more excitement for the students at the dance. 

“I know some things were frustrating and needed to be changed around a little bit, but for the most part they ended up the way we envisioned and went well,” StuCo sponsor Skye Reichert said.

“The decorations came out better than I expected,” Kohr agreed.