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The 2023 Homecoming festivities have concluded after a week of spirit, a 28-20 win against the Fallston Cougars, and the Saturday night dance. The festivities ran from Oct. 2-7, much later compared to the 2022 events.
This year, varsity club, SGA, the journalism staff, and the Booster club assisted in creating a fun and festive environment.
Beginning on Sunday night, students, parents, and staff covered the atrium, hallways, and stairwells with green and gold decorations. The following morning began Spirit Week, including Disney day, Farmers vs farm animals day, twin day, Teen Beach Movie day (bikers vs. surfers), and class colors to close out the week. There were a multitude of costumes throughout the week, including students dressed in inflatable chicken costumes.
A recent poll surveyed 168 NH students, asking if they liked the spirit week dress-up days. The votes were very close; however, slightly more than 50% of the votes did not favor the themes.
On Friday afternoon, students were dismissed from the class around 12:45 for the pep rally. The fall sports teams gathered on the track, while the grade levels piled into the stands, separated by their colors; white for freshmen, gold for sophomores, green for juniors, and black for seniors. The event lasted approximately one hour, and included five different challenges. The fall sports teams competed in a game involving a yoga ball, and football came out on top with the win. There was also an obstacle course, a field-goal kicking competition, a challenge involving putting on a frozen t-shirt, the hula hoop relay, and a performance by the cheer team. Finally, a student vote resulted in assistant principal Ms. Erin Mock kissing a baby goat, provided by senior James Ortt.
Later that night, the stands were packed again, this time with students, parents, alumni and staff, all decked out in their green and gold attire. The JV football team merely lost by one point, while varsity came away with an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter, and ultimately a 28-20 win against the school rivals. After the game, fireworks lit up the sky as game attendees covered the turf and watched.
The final event of the week was the Homecoming dance, which was held on Saturday night. The dance ran from 7PM- 10PM, however students began lining up at the doors as early as 6:45 PM.
According to the main office staff, the number of dance tickets was capped at 800, and all 800 tickets sold out.
Around 9 PM, the homecoming court of 20 seniors took the stage. Korynn Sims and Harold Davis took home the 2023 Homecoming Queen and King crowns. Sims explained that she “signed up with a bunch of friends as something fun” that they could do together. She believes that being on court was a good bonding experience. When Sims’ name was called, she “didn’t even hear [it] at first,” but was surprised once it had processed. Davis added that he signed up after a friend convinced him to, but “[he] knew [he] was going to win.”
Principal Mr. Bryan Pawlicki commented that “everybody came to the dance ready to have a good time and made good decisions.” The students’ behavior met their expectations, and they had no issues. Pawlicki thought “the music was great, the decorations were beautiful,” and that the weather cooperated in Hawks’ favor. He added that this dance was “probably one of the best ones [he has] ever attended or been a part of.” He doesn’t believe there should be any changes made next year, as “[the] new ticketing system worked really well,” and there were no issues with Kona Ice, either.
