Homecoming has been an annual tradition since the early 19th century. Though it is up
for debate which school hosted the first modern homecoming, m any schools, including Baylor,
Illinois, Southwestern, and Missouri, all claim it was them. In 1911, Missouri University hosted
the first alumni-encouraged football game with a parade. Historically, this is considered to be the
first modern homecoming game.

Homecoming is usually an assortment of fun traditions and school spirit. These traditions
include a dress-up week, a football game, a parade, a homecoming court, a pep rally, and a
dance. This is how Issaquah did in terms of a great homecoming week. According to senior
Collin Mitzel, Issaquah did “pretty great.” This past month, Issaquah celebrated its homecoming,
and it was a wild one. From football games, to dances, to Mario Kart tournaments, this year’s
homecoming really had everything, though it was a little chaotic. The ASB class did a fantastic
job of planning everything. Sophomore Sammy Chase said that “the rest of the school could have
had a little more school spirit.” Despite the lack of student participation, everything else was
great.

Typically leading up to the homecoming game and dance are a themed dress-up week, as
well as after school activities. Monday started the week off with Pajama Day and a Mario Kart
tournament after school. Next was Western day, and an after-school line dancing class.
Wednesday was Tropical day, which was definitely the most popular, but had no after school
activity. Then Thursday was Sports day, and after school was a Spike ball tournament. Finally,
came Area 51 day on Friday followed by the Homecoming game.

Though there was a decent number of people who dressed up on Wednesday, most days
did not have a significant amount of participants. A majority of people had the same feelings as
Mitzel, and just “didn’t feel like it.” Even though it makes sense that people will not always
have time to dress up in the morning, who does not want to show up to school in their pajamas,
or an alien costume? Very few people also showed up to after school events.
Adding to the festivities on Wednesday, ASB hosted an assembly. At the assembly, ASB
showed us a heartwarming video on the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and how Issaquah will be
raising money this year to help children with critical illnesses dreams come true. During the
entire week of homecoming, Issaquah raised approximately one-thousand dollars.We also had a
performance from the Issaquah cheer and dance teams and acoustics from the band. After
announcements about the DECA store, they called down two representatives from each class to
play a game of cups. Deservedly so, the seniors won.

Though spirit week had a lack of participation, the homecoming game had tons of people
attending and dressing up in all yellow to support their team. With body glitter, beads, and
spray-painted T-shirts, the school spirit was at its peak of the week. Going into the game senior
varsity player Jack Githens and the rest of the team had “prepared immensely, working hard at
practice, and watching professional game film.” The Eagles had a well prepared game plan ready
for Friday. However, Liberty is a really well-coached team. According to Githens, if the Eagles
“wanted a win they would’ve had to execute their game plan better than the other team.” Even
though Githens mand the rest of his team said they “anticipated a win against Liberty,” but the
final score was 9-3 Patriots. The Eagles did start out strong, and had a great game plan; in the
end, Liberty won. But they did make Coach Joshua Brookshire “extremely proud.” The team’s
spirits are still high and according to Githens, “Even though a win at our homecoming game
would’ve been great, we played hard and we’re going to get better.”

The day after the football game was the homecoming dance, which was quite the topic of
discussion for the past month. At the dance, the music was “better than expected,” according to
senior Alex Takeuchi. Freshman Sam Carver said that the decor was “super cute,” However, she
did admit that she thinks that “there could have been more to do at the dance.” Despite the cons,
many had fun and it’s always a good time to dress up and hang out with friends for a night.
In the end, Issaquah missed out on some of the traditional Homecoming activities such as
picnics, a pep rallies, and other class competitions. However, the overall week was enjoyable
and with the amount of time that there was to plan for the events, it was impressive. As Chase
said earlier, “the best way to improve homecoming week would be more participation from the
entire school next year.” Hopefully next year will have more school spirit, more time before
homecoming to plan, and just as much excitement if not more.