Homecoming Week is a long-standing staple in PA tradition, and this year brought its own set of unique experiences. Students narrowed down their ideas in SCA meetings to determine the theme “Tim Burton Movies.”
The week began with an SCA-sponsored spirit week, where students brought mini shopping carts and laundry baskets for “Anything but a Backpack Day” and decked out in their Christmas and Halloween wear for “Holiday Day.”
On Wednesday of last week, SCA sponsored a bonfire night and trunk or treat with clubs and classes giving out candy, while students danced to music and played lawn games. Senior Tanzie Moore, who represented PA’s Leadership Workshop at the bonfire, recalled her favorite part of the night was “getting to see all the different clubs, decorations, and have fun with all my friends one last time.”
Homecoming Hallways on Thursday brought the competitiveness between classes to its peak, as the classes worked late into the night to try to outperform each other. The senior class came in first place, displaying their creative talent with a giant smiling Cheshire Cat and Mad Hatter tea party for “Alice in Wonderland,” along with depictions of “Beetlejuice” and “Nightmare Before Christmas.”
The freshmen placed an unusual second place, as the new students to PA usually do not rank highly. They included a giant cardboard elephant for “Dumbo” and an immersive background of Gotham City for “Batman.”
Juniors placed third, with student actors singing Oompa Loompas and cardboard apes representing “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Planet of the Apes” respectively. The students included live music throughout parts of the hall, further immersing people into their world of hallways.
The sophomore class placed fourth, with their creative take on “The Corpse Bride,” showcasing their own spin on a wedding ceremony.
Sophomore Morgan Busch explained how creating and walking through the hallways is her favorite part of the week. “I really like seeing what the seniors and juniors do because they are very competitive about it,” she said. “It’s really cool to see all the classes and everyone in the classes come together to create something that represents their class.”
The Homecoming football game against Kellam High School on Friday brought lots of students to the stands, decked out in their PA pride gear. “[The crowd] was super hype every time we got a touchdown,” said Sophomore Homecoming chair Haneeta Parakala-Jain. “It was so fun cheering them on.” During the halftime ceremony, seniors Jayden Blackman and Charlotte Underwood were named this year’s Homecoming royalty.
The week ended with the traditional Homecoming Dance. Many students came out to PA on Saturday night to dress up and dance. “Anytime ‘FE!N’ was played, we were all jumping for joy,” said Parakala-Jain. “The energy was there and everyone was upbeat and dancing all the time.”
