The Mycenaean

Students all over Leesville are beginning to prepare for Homecoming festivities that are to take place the weekend of Oct. 16.

“I’m very excited for my senior homecoming, It’s my last one, and I know the best way to experience it is with your close friends; people who you know you’ll have a good time with,” said Cameron Steagall, Senior Student Council President. 

This year homecoming will have a “Hard Rock Café” theme, so there’s sure to be some “rockin” floats in the parade to start the festivities, and a rock and roll dance to finish them.

A pep rally will be held Friday, Oct. 16 during school hours in order to pump the students with spirit for the Homecoming game that night.  The homecoming game will be played at 7:00 pm against a Sanderson High School.

Many different aspects go into the homecoming events and many people spend long hours preparing to make the homecoming events a success.

One thing is for sure, the homecoming game is anticipated by all of the Loonies, and the game couldn’t happen without our dedicated football players.

“We’ve been practicing hard for a while, and homecoming is an important time to show what we’ve practiced, since all of our friends will be there watching us,” said Austin Berrios, a sophomore varsity football player “It would really suck to let everyone down on homecoming, so we have to win. Plus, if we lose, the mood at the dance is just gonna be bad.”

To help our football players prepare and get excited for the big game, members of the PTA, or “Football Moms” help to get the players pumped.

“We decorate the multipurpose room, and have a special meal for the football players. We also make a cake with a team picture on it in celebration of homecoming,” said Lynn Woodrow, mother of sophomore varsity player, Jake Woodrow.

While the football players train and prepare to show the crowd what they’ve practiced, the cheerleaders are preparing to show the pride a routine of their own. “I’m looking forward to homecoming because we are going to have the opportunity to perform our competition routine at the pep rally to help raise the crowd’s energy,” aid Elena Bravo-Taylor, a sophomore varsity cheerleader.

 Along with the pep rally, the cheerleaders will also be making a performance at the game, where they flip and spin to lead Leesville in spirit.

The Leesville Pride Dance Ensemble will also be performing at the pep rally. Sarah Morrison, senior, on the ensemble said “The pep rally dance is going to be really good, the whole ensemble worked together to choreograph it, so it was really a group effort this year.”

Although the cheerleaders lead the crowd in cheers, there is a group of students who never fails to cheer the loudest: The Grill Team.  The school’s tailgating, cheering fanatics plan to be grilling out at Springdale Park at 4:30 the day of the game.

“We plan for grill team to be bigger and better than ever before on homecoming Friday,” said Michael Wojciechowski, senior grill team member, “And there’s gonna be a huge corn hole tournament, so be there!”

Stuck between two exciting halves of football, the homecoming halftime show will take place. Who better to perform at the halftime show that our very own Pride Band? The band has worked hard all year to prepare a routine for the band competition, and the routine they have prepared is to be performed at the homecoming halftime show.

“I’m excited to perform, but it’s going to be tough, because we have the same amount of time to perform that we usually do, with three times the amount of stuff, so we have to learn to march really fast,” said Jessi Van Staalduinen, junior band member.

Leesville students are itching with anticipation for the homecoming season: “The homecoming game is a great time to watch our football team, and hang out with friends. It’s going to be awesome!” said Sam Kelman, junior.

The day after the game will be the Homecoming Dance, which will be held in the school gymnasium from 7-10 pm.

The homecoming dance is a great time for students to dress up, and hang out with their friends, and dance the night away.  Kyle Gonzalez, senior, confirms:  “The homecoming dance is a great time. You get to see your friends all dressed up, and get to have a nice eloquent dinner with your friends.”

“We usually meet at someone’s house to take pictures, go out to dinner as a group, go to the dance for a little bit, and then everyone goes to someone’s house to hang out with friends in a little more relaxed environment,” said Yolandi Prinsloo, sophomore.

“The homecoming dance brings out everyone’s goofy side,” said Doug Theret, senior. “It gives students a chance to get down and dirty with their friends and teachers, and maybe we’ll get a chance to teach the teachers how to jerk!”

“Homecoming is important to the student body because spirit week, the pep rally, the homecoming game, and the dance brings all the students together and shows the freshmen the deal.”

Many students are planning on attending the game and dance, and even Leesville’s newest additions, the freshmen, are excited about the homecoming festivities. “Homecoming is going to be fricken awesome because the class of 13 is now here!” said one freshmen, Maggie Zargo.

Hopefully homecoming will live up to all the great expectations that it has been given, and there’s only one way to find out, and that’s by showing your school spirit during spirit week and the pep rally, cheering on the pride at the game and then partying with friends at the dance the next night. See you there!