Homecoming week can be considered one of the busiest weeks in the entire school year. With a kickoff pep assembly on Monday, voting for royalty candidates on Tuesday, the annual Homecoming carnival and bonfire on Wednesday, a final pep assembly on Thursday followed by the Homecoming game that night at CBAC and then finally the dance on Saturday night.
One of the largest groups in the school is the marching band. The marching band played at both pep assemblies, the Homecoming bonfire and the Homecoming game, where they did the glow show to end the night.
“It’s definitely a busy week, but I think our students really like it, and, you know, this year is a little different than in previous years, we’ve been preparing for homecoming and a competition at the same time, and so it takes, you know, that’s two really busy things and so this year’s has been nice that homecoming week, we’ve been able to just kind of take a step back,” band director Carol Lowman said. “We had a great competition last Saturday. We get to focus on homecoming exclusively this week, and then, you know, continue preparing for the rest of our competition season.”
Another group that plays a large role in Homecoming Week is the Olathe West Leadership Squad (O.W.L.S.) They plan out the pep assemblies to present the Homecoming royalty candidates and showcase what the school has achieved in the first few months of school.
“I think our biggest thing that we think about when we’re putting together a pep assembly is ‘how can we involve the most people and really highlight the awesome things that are happening at Olathe West,’” O.W.L.S. sponsor Kelsey Carbajo said. “And so with the musical happening and it being ‘Mamma Mia!’ and then our madrigals are absolutely killing it and orchestra, band [and] everyone, dance and cheer, like, we want to make sure that we can highlight them and give them a stage to perform in front of the whole student body.”
Being a part of the Homecoming court is a big experience. To get on the court you need to be voted for during the primary votes about a month before the dance. Then, if you make it on court you get to be recognized at both pep assemblies and the Homecoming football game. Just being on the court is an accomplishment enough, but the student body votes again on the Tuesday before the dance to pick the royalty for each grade. The freshmen, sophomore, and junior class royalty is announced during the Thursday assembly and the senior class royalty is announced at the Football game. In addition to everything else they organize, Student Council puts on a special event for the Homecoming court to congratulate them for the recognition they received.
“On the morning of the final assembly, which is Thursday, we have all of the court, we pull them together for breakfast and we just really do that because we want to recognize everybody on the court and let them all know like, it’s a really cool thing,” Student Council sponsor Tracy Russman said. “It’s a very special thing. And even though, you know, an hour from then we go in and we have an assembly and somebody gets a tiara [or a] scepter. But it doesn’t mean that they are any less special or worthy. We just really want to recognize their commitment to the week.”
Some people have been involved in the Homecoming production in less direct ways. Last year, a few teachers including Patrick Flynn suggested the idea of Roshambo which has become another one of the week’s traditions. The Feminist Leaders Club also played a role in the week by originating the idea of the Just Dance party when they hosted their Just Dance fundraiser.
Both of these activities provide students another way to get involved with the week’s festivities without needing to spend money on a ticket for the dance or find a ride to the football game.
“We think that [the Just Dance Party] is really important, because not everybody can come back to the dance, not everybody can get back to school at night because of issues, you know, with rides and cars and busy families and everything,” Russman said. “So we wanted to try and be more inclusive and do some things that other people could be involved in.”
These opportunities could not have been executed as well without the contributions from these teachers. Many of these people gave up their free time to volunteer because they enjoy seeing people getting involved and having fun throughout the week.
“We have a great school,” Russman said. “People just reach out and support and participate and offer help, and I think that’s one of the highlights of working at West, because nobody, I mean, maybe there’s somebody that’s rolling their eyes, but I think more people want to help and support than not.”
