This year’s homecoming theme was “Haunted Homecoming” so students had their fake blood and plastic fangs (and school spirit) ready for the spookiest week of their lives. Here’s the behind the scenes exclusive on all the things that led up to homecoming.

I talked to Student Council, Blue Crew, language clubs, the Cheer team, and my fellow staff members. When asked how the theme was picked, Mrs. Lainio, head of Student Council at O’Plaine Campus, replied, “It was something we really haven’t done in a long time and we thought it would be fun.”

She says that picking themes each year is not difficult because “we have system that we do on both campuses”. She also noted that “We do everything a year before, so the most difficult part is ordering everything.” For Lainio, the fun of homecoming is definitely “the dance – we have a lot of things to do for everyone”.

As a prelude to the dance, the cheerleading team talked about their role in the parade that Saturday morning. Freshman cheerleader Annalise Sambrano said they were “flying, stunting, and cheering”. Coach Vitale says the best part of the game was “the halftime show [when] the dance team and cheer join together and do one performance for both games”.

Looking back on her own homecoming, Vitale fondly remembers that “it was so fun! I loved everything about the festivities like the dance and the parade. It’s like a holiday and it brings our school together. When I was in high school, our games were on Saturdays so after the parade we would go to watch. I still get excited when homecoming rolls around even though I coach cheer, probably because I teach at the school I went to.” Her favorite part was “all the school spirit. Everyone gets excited for the dance, the parade, and the decorations. It shows that we are Warren.”

Spirit week was a blast. Homecoming week spelled out SCARY: Sports day, College day, All about the memes, Retro day, and Spirit day. On sports day, we had a lot of people wearing their favorite football, basketball, and baseball teams. College day was amazing! Everyone showed their pride by repping their college wear. Meme day was hilarious with people showing how funny they could be dressing up as their  favorite memes. A couple we saw was the mannequin hoodie, the John Cena song played on recorders, and the “change my mind” guy. Retro day was a homage to rock and roll and hippie culture. 

And lastly, spirit day was marked by a flood of blue and gold with students proudly wearing their Warren t-shirts for the amazing assembly on Friday. Seniors won the spirit stick (the first time for their class) and drum line as usual hyped up the crowd with their spectacular light show and surprising performance. Who knew you could play the drums upside down?

Thanks to everyone who showed up to the game and cheered our fellow blue devils! While sadly the game got cancelled and rescheduled for the next day due to rain, on the bright side we won! 34-6 was the score against Lake Zurich. Congratulations to the blue devils on winning the homecoming game.

Following the win, the dance was extra spectacular. A lot of people showed up in their suits and dresses, pumping fists in the mosh pit. My good friend Adriana Demos who attended the dance said it was good because she “met a lot of new people that were not just freshman,” and she loved “being able to dance as they played all our favorite songs and we could just let loose and be teens for the night.” For her, the greatest part of homecoming week was “definitely the themes. . .we could dress up  and no one would care because they looked just as crazy.” 

To sum up the whole homecoming experience, she called it “energetic” because  “people dressed up to the game to the dance. Even though the game got rained on everyone was still energetic. Any obstacle thrown at us we still overcame it not individually but as one.”

In the spirit of a true homecoming, Warren came together as a student body to show their spirit throughout the week and it culminated in a great win both at the game and the dance. Thank you to everyone who came out and those who participated in the interviews!