During PA’s pep rally on Friday, Oct. 10, SCA officers announced the freshmen as the winners of the 2025-2026 Homecoming Hallways competition. The seniors received second place, with the sophomores taking third, and the juniors receiving fourth.
The homecoming theme for this year was fairy tales, and each class chose a different fairy tale to be the theme of their hallway. The seniors chose Aladdin, the juniors chose Hansel and Gretel, and the sophomores and freshmen chose Shrek and Snow White, respectively. Freshman Ellington Williams explained that the freshman chose their theme as Snow White because they felt it offered a lot of different options.
The hallways are voted on by a panel of judges who are not affiliated with any of the classes. This year, judges included various PA alumni as well as sponsors for Princess Anne’s Young Life.
In years past, it has often been the senior class that takes first place in the Homecoming Hallways competition. As a class moves through high school, it typically gains experience that increases its chances of winning in senior year. The Freshmen, on the other hand, are generally at a disadvantage, having it be their first attempt at the competition, making this year a break from the norm.
“We all just wanted to win,” explained Williams. “We all had really fresh ideas, and we were all really excited and hyped because this was our first year.” Williams was in charge of the first section of the freshman hallway and explained that her role was to make a good first impression on those walking through. The first section, she explained, contained decorations depicting the first scene from Snow White, including trees, castles, and a well. Each section that the freshmen decorated had specific students in charge of decorating it.
Other classes divided their hallways similarly. “Each officer had a responsibility in each section,” explained senior Samantha de Peralta, who is the senior class historian. “Me and two other officers were in charge of the market section of our hallway.”
The seniors expressed some dismay over their second-place ranking, especially as it comes in their final year of high school. “It was kind of disappointing, because we’ve never won, and we really thought we were going to win,” explained Mitch Lyon, senior class president.
Junior Class President Haneeta Parakala-Jain, on the other hand, expressed that she was still happy with the work that was done. “I think this was our personal best [work] in the hallways,” she shared. “I understand we got fourth place, but we still worked together as a group, and we made a plan.”
Parakala-Jain, Lyon, and Peralta agreed that their respective classes’ biggest weakness was participation. “A lot of juniors don’t show up to help,” Parakala-Jain explained. Lyon sympathized, noting that “we kind of struggled with having people there in the weeks coming up.”
While the competition aspect of the hallways is important to the students who participate, they shared that it is not the only reason why they do it. “I think that the most important part is to really promote that sense of having fun at a school event and bring school spirit up,” explained sophomore Class President Christina Delos Reyes. Parakala-Jain also emphasized the importance of having fun when participating in the hallway competition. “That long Thursday night, even though it is really long, it is really fun.”
While homecoming just ended only a little while ago, class officers are already looking ahead to the competition next year. Delos Reyes shared that she would make some changes to how her class operated with homecoming hallways for next year. “I think we need to work on our communication and our time management,” she explained. Parakala-Jain, on the other hand, said that next year, the class of 2027 is going to focus on getting the word out about Homecoming hallways in order to increase participation.
The freshmen say they are confident they can take first place again next year. “We are going to have even more ideas, and we know what we need to do, and we can just keep adding onto it,” explained Williams. The sophomores are similarly confident. “We are going to dominate the freshmen next year,” laughed Delos Reyes.
