Camila Jackson – Short and less exciting

Homecoming is an annual tradition in high schools that has been around for decades. It is a week-long celebration that culminates in a football game and dance. Homecoming is a time for students, alumni, and the community to come together to celebrate school spirit and pride whilst incorporating competition. However, homecoming at Cathedral this year seemed short and less exciting than the previous year. 

First of all the Ignite the Irish Fundraiser seemed much shorter this year than last year. The fundraiser last year lasted for almost 7 weeks though this year it was just 4 weeks long(if it wasn’t extended an extra week, it would only be 3 weeks). Incorporating a longer time for wearing dress-down pants would encourage more students to hit their goals. Wearing sweatpants or leggings is something that every student in school wants the opportunity to have. Since it is such a short period to be able to be out of uniform, students aren’t as motivated to raise $125-250+. 

Secondly, the process for accumulating points for the spirit stick seems a little unfair for the different classes. The freshman class won for the most number of students who attended the homecoming dance. Of course this was expected as it was their first dance since entering high school. Sophomore Bailey says, “I think points from homecoming are a bit unfair. I don’t like how you have to pay money to get into the dance either. Also, people don’t make a big deal out of it so no one really goes except for freshmen. Homecoming isn’t as fun as formal.” Students don’t dress up for Homecoming compared to Winter Formal which takes away the fun of it. The diversity of different classes would have been better if organizers encouraged attendance by attracting them to a fun night with music, food, or drinks, or maybe even a Photo Booth to take pictures.

I think decorating the hallways during spirit week is a good tradition that allows students to show their creativity and out-of-the-box ideas and is a good way for classes to show their school spirit. However, how the winner of this is determined should be adjusted, as only four educators decided the winner. I recently heard that Guerin also has powderpuff games though they do theirs a little differently. They play in a bracket sort of competition, with Seniors against Freshmen and Juniors against Sophomores. The winner of those games would compete against each other and the all-around winner earns spirit points. I feel that would be fun to have at Cathedral and would allow every class to be incorporated into the game instead of just being a sideline fan. 

I have to give credit to the cheerleaders, band, and dance team for the homecoming assembly and the participation of students for the themes of the week too. I thought that was a fun way to end the week, though I hope next year’s homecoming week will be more exciting and inclusive.

Katherine Nash – Senior Pride

When I think of homecoming week, I think of two events: the powderpuff game and the spirit stick. 

TThis year’s powder puff game was interesting to say the least. I learned a lot about the preparations for powder puff. For example, I heard teams actually practice and run plays. Everyone went into the game expecting the Pink Panthers to win… and that’s exactly what happened. But, at the end of the day, the Pink Panthers jerseys were a lot better than the Goon Squads. 

Now let’s get to the spirit stick. The senior class came into the week expecting to win the spirit stick. Unfortunately, that is not what happened. What did happen was the junior class won, and the senior class quickly left the gym.

Teachers always complain about the lack of effort seniors put into their last year. But how can we expect them, especially this class, to have any spirit or to put any effort into this school year when they aren’t given any encouragement. Senior year is always hard to keep going, especially when you’re applying for colleges and looking forward to the future. In years past, the senior class has always won, no matter how questionable the win might be. In fact, last year especially, we should’ve won as compensation for the undeniable win we deserved last year. I, personally, always thought that the seniors won because the staff wanted to encourage them to keep being a part of their school. As unfortunate as this was, I hope that the senior class can pull through and prove that we should have won the spirit stick and prove the school wrong. 

Senior, Caroline Drew, said, “I think we definitely could’ve worked harder this year for the spirit stick. I think this would have brought this year’s seniors together and motivated them to stick together to finish the year. It was definitely a bummer losing the spirit stick as seniors, but hopefully we can turn this year around, and show the younger classmen how much pride the seniors have for their Irish family.”