Homecoming has been a tradition at James Buchanan High School for many years. For alumni, it’s a time to reminisce. The student body sees it as a time for dancing and pep rallies; however, for a small group of students it’s the busiest time of the year. The Student Council takes on a hefty workload behind the scenes to make sure this grand event runs smoothly. 

“We had a work day right after school ended last year to plan the dance,” said Bella Shupp (11), “We laid out all the details.” 

This year, Homecoming is much earlier than previous years. This put extra pressure on Student Council members to have everything ready on time. Students usually come to the dance and see the decorations, but don’t realize how much work and planning it requires. They had to book the DJ, make decorations, design t-shirts, and plan the pep rally. 

“We put up flyers and made a bulletin board to help spread the word to get participation,” said Timothy Helman (10). 

The theme is “Dancing Through the Decades.” To promote the theme, the bulletin board was decorated with records and retro fonts. For Spirit Week, each day was a different decade starting with the 50s and ending with the 90s. 

“We chose this theme because it is easy for people to participate,” said Helman.

Many people within the school own Converses, scrunchies, and many other things that were popular fashion trends in past decades. This makes it easy to show school spirit and participate throughout the week. The Student Council also wanted to boost school spirit even more; they plan to do this through the pep rally with fun games and songs. 

“The Homecoming candidates will be singing karaoke,” said Shupp, they will also be doing a fashion show with toilet paper.” 

The Homecoming King candidates this year are: Nick Alfree (12), Brady Bigler (12), Dean King (12), Grant Souder (12), and Jacob Troupe (12). The Homecoming Queen candidates are: Kaitlyn Ebersole (12), Lily Faust (12), Ella Heckman (12), Reilly Heinbaugh (12) and Hannah Kimmel (12). 

“All the seniors nominated candidates,” said Shupp. “Then the whole school is allowed to vote for the final King and Queen.”

Typically the football game is on a Friday night and the dance takes place the next day on a Saturday night, but this year the game and dance are all in the same day. Saturday at 1 PM the game starts. At halftime the King and Queen will be announced, then at 7 PM the dance begins. 

“I just hope that everyone has fun at Homecoming. It’s a time to relax and not worry about school,” said Shupp.  

At the end of last school year, members of Student Council congregated together to plan out next year’s Homecoming. Since then, Student Council has been implementing their ideas that were written down on paper into reality. 

On Friday, September 29, the James Buchanan football team geared up to compete against the Clear Spring Blazers. After many tough losses and practices, the football team claimed a win. These two teams were set to face each other to create a local rivalry called the Mason Dixon Matchup. Whitetail Ski Resort donated a trophy to be awarded to the winning team. The night before the game, both teams ate spaghetti together in the Clear Spring cafeteria.

“It was a good and enjoyable experience.” Brady Bigler (10) said. “I had never done anything like that before.”

Under the Friday night lights, the football team achieved a win. This was the Rockets’ first win in two and a half years. Owen Stoner (11) scored four touchdowns and Jackson Ellis (12) scored one. With the Rockets coming out victorious with a score of 30-6.

The football team also gave credit to the student section as they cheered them on. The student section made posters and sang chants to show their spirit. At the end of the game all the fans stormed onto the field to celebrate the victory.

“It was a great feeling to have fans cheering for us.” Jaelin Carmack (12). “We couldn’t have done it without them.”

This win has given a boost of morale to the team and everyone is anxious to see what they do next.