The original version of this story appeared in the May 10, 2019, print issue of the Peace Pipe Chatter.

Students gathered nervously on Tuesday, March 19 in the MCHS Central Campus for the first dedicated meeting towards 2019 Homecoming. The room was almost noiseless, which provided a good place for student council to collaborate their ideas. This meeting was only between the six old executive members, the eight new members, and Ms. Christina Burgess and Ms. Alexa Tancil, who are the advisers.

With a lot at stake students began their work immediately and were able to accomplish more than they thought. This put them on a good path to be finished with what the need on time.

“I’m already anticipating the out-come based on what we’ve talked about so far! Our ideas are limitless, and it’s nothing but exhilarating,” Nolan Bernicky, senior president, said.

Each Homecoming event, such as the dance, backyard bash, assembly, and decorations, are assigned for two people from the board. These people split up to work on their individual committees and meet with the past representatives from last year’s executive board.

During each individual committee meeting, they had a to-do list to prioritize which events had to be done immediately and which could wait. Every group was able to work with past members so they had a guide on planning.

After each committee had well-thought-out plans for not only the whole event, but what they will do in future meetings to have everything finished in time. Depending on which group the planning is for will deter-mine how long it’ll take to finish the event. Some committees, like backyard bash and assembly, have tons of phone call to make to organize a set day for meeting vendors and entertainment. Other things that each committee prioritizes are buying materials, such as decorations, food for the events, games for during the activities, and props to for the event that match the theme.

Since the theme of Homecoming is different each year there are minor changes in events that take place. For instance, Spirit Week is something lots of students participate in. However, the days were altered since last year to find days that would best match the new theme.

To end the meeting, each commit-tee met with the advisers to run by the set plan and give them ideas for their specific event. The advisers also gave their opinions to include new games or events or music into the committee. They also make final decisions on what to buy and what day everything will take place during Homecoming Week.

Members of student council work every week little by little to have more than half of Homecoming planned be-fore the school year ends. By March the theme for next fall is already chosen by student council members. Under-stand that hours of planning goes into this event, and most of it being done by students here at MCHS. More than seven months in advance a whole week of events are planned out and not everyone knows how it’s all put together or the work put into it.

The change through history
Homecoming today is one of the most attended school events. However, it hasn’t always been such a big deal. Even within the last 10 years Home-coming has evolved to be a major high school event.
In 1998, Mr. Chris Underhill graduated from MCHS. He had a different viewpoint on Homecoming than most kids do today. After only attending two of the four Homecomings he had, he said that going out with friends to the after party was way more cool than actually going to the dance.

Homecoming has always been planned by student council or class representatives. Other students do still realize how big this event is, especially if they attend Homecoming.

Underhill was surprised how much money is spent today. He explained how their DJ was always an old high school student or senior that was about to graduate. He continued that when he was in high school they didn’t use the money they had aside for this dance on lights and fog.

Things started to change even with-in the next five years. Mr. Jake Meyerhoff graduated from MCHS in 2010 and his Homecoming events were the exact combination of now and when Underhill was at MCHS.

Meyerhoff explained how Home-coming was fun and for some it was the place to be but he saw the same points Underhill made. He agreed that too much money was put into Homecoming and it is over hyped. He only attended one of his Homecomings.

Something that is always made a big deal is how good the music was. Back in 1998 they used a graduated student or a senior as a DJ. Now we spend thou-sands of dollars to satisfy the students.
The difference in Homecoming over the last 20 years are endless but the things that remain the same are favored by students enough to keep them around.

As for the week leading up to this event, it has changed slightly. There used to be a bonfire, which was favored, especially by Underhill. The one thing that has always been the same and still is one of the most attended activities, is the Powderpuff game.

Mr. Tony Garcia, an MCHS dean, also attended Minooka and all four of his Homecomings. He explained how he thought Homecoming was a big deal and he always went with big groups and then hung out after. The things that mainly changed in his eyes were money spent and costs of tickets.

“We had a DJ, which was nice but we didn’t have all the fog machines and disco lights. The set up now if much more highly technical than what we had,” Garcia said. He said the two big things that haven’t changed are the football game and powderpuff game. Garcia was a coach one year for powderpuff and a cheerleader another.

The week of Homecoming at MCHS is way more than just a dance. The whole week leading up to the Saturday dance is what makes students look forward to Homecoming.

Along with the dance comes, the powderpuff game, backyard bash, battle of the bands, and what everyone looks forward to on Friday night, the football game.

This week incorporates the theme into different activities and students build up the suspense throughout the week. There are also different dress up days at school which make the hype get higher during school days.

Students wiggle in their seats anxiously waiting for Friday night. Homecoming football game is a big deal. Hoping to win with the student section cheering them on the football team takes on their Friday night game.

And finally after waiting for the week to come to an end, even though it feels like a year, the dance is that weekend. Most students from MCHS gather in the South Campus gymnasium for a night to just dance. The amount of lights and noise make the room fire and most students who attend have a blast.

Planning non-stop
Day two of hands-on planning took place in the MCHS Central Campus library on Tuesday, April 2. This quiet environment helps students to stay focus which is the most efficient way to get the plans rolling. Still everyone involved in student council gathered anxiously however, they were ready to collaborate their ideas.

This was the first meeting with more than just executive board so the horizon of ideas was bigger and fresh eyes brought a lot of suggestions to be considered. It’s hard to get everyone to agree on ideas that also get approved by advisers, matches the Homecoming theme, and would be enjoyable for students that attend Homecoming week events.

The assembly specifically is a hard thing to plan for. It takes a lot of communicating between others in order to get an idea across that would be good for this event. When each committee split up to talk amongst themselves, the most chatter definitely came from the assembly table. They have the most planning to do. The two head representatives must figure out a way to satisfy all by still including the crowd and taking others considerations into their thought process.

Splitting up into committees is beneficial and makes it less stressful on head representatives. This gives them less chaos by excluding the ideas that don’t pertain to their event whatsoever.
It also gives a chance for advisers, Tancil and Burgess, to walk around and observe the progress between each event.

“For me planning Homecoming is so much fun! We start so early in planning and putting things together so we aren’t rushing anything and we can take our time to make it amazing,” Taya Talbot, junior public relations officer, said.

The giant Homecoming to-do list spreadsheet shared between all executive board members is the easiest way for everyone to follow along and provide their notes.

This also gives an idea to how many more planning days needed versus how many days are left, which puts pressure on students to have a plan in order to finish in time.

At the end of every meeting the advisors check in with each committees which assures them that progress is being made and gives them an idea on which groups need more help and guidance.

As meetings will continue until the end of the year student council hopes to have more than 85 percent of home-coming planned before that last meeting. This will let them come back next year in ease, knowing that they are ahead of their game.

The 2019 Homecoming Week runs from Oct. 7-12. Minooka plays Yorkville in football on Oct. 11.

Gabby Roussos is the treasurer of the MCHS student council.