The evening of Dec. 6, the Great Room was glowing, the lights were set up, the music was playing, and homecoming was starting. The theme: Snow Ball. This year’s homecoming took place on a Saturday night before winter break, two major schedule changes to the tradition of Woods Charter high school homecoming. Typically, homecoming is held the first week back from break at the first Friday home basketball game, but due to popular demand, and a big campaigning point for Student Council President Oakes Ulrich as mentioned in his speech and posters, student council scheduled this year’s homecoming after the Friday game, on the evening of the Woods 5k.

Students voted for the songs on the playlist, which will be used again for the upcoming dodgeball tournament, and the inflatable snowmen and candles at the door welcomed a huge turnout of high school students. When I spoke to many attendees, most said that this year’s homecoming was “better than last year’s”, and “lots of fun”, as did Sarah Ahmed in an interview. She also mentioned that guests commented on the snacks and enjoyed the festive treats such as peppermint and chocolate candies.

In the week leading up to homecoming as well, many students enjoyed the spirit week fun and there was record participation by both students and teachers. Looking forward, the high school spirit events coming up for Woods Charter are the BIPOC spirit week, MLK day, the dodgeball tournament, and enrichments, which are set to start this month.