Please don’t get us wrong. We are all for the competition aspect of Homecoming. We love to cheer at the rally, dress up in outfits we would normally be mortified of, and spend five or six weekends straight building an incredible float that we will eventually destroy. Yet sometimes we catch ourselves thinking malicious thoughts about the other classes, sure that everyone else is out to get our poor, innocent classmates.
By Friday we see math and science classes divided into colors, instead of working together on that one last lab question. In Literature classes students plot and spread out materials in order to triumph. Grades split into those who go crazy and those who find the entire thing ridiculous.
We’re building up all this momentum, in this huge mass of students and creating four enormous forces all hurtling at each other. Physics students know where this is going. If equal and opposite forces collide, no work gets done and all that energy is conserved for future conflict. All that effort for nothing.
Which is why we have a proposal. Instead of having the rally be the end of Homecoming, as it is for most people, let it be the time when our energy is converted from class to school spirit. This way the forces won’t cancel out, they’ll parallel and create some formidable power for Friday’s football game.
Remember football? The game that decides when Homecoming week is, that consists of players from more than one class. The game is when our alumni come back to root for the home team, to cheer on Cheer and Dance, and to applaud Marching Band. All these organizations show the true spirit of Homecoming, one that many students have lost – the school spirit.
Band doesn’t play four different times, once for each class. Instead, the grades come together to create one sound. If the cheer team members don’t work together and trust each other, someone is likely to get hurt. And no one class can win the Homecoming football game alone. A victory is a victory for all of MVHS, something everyone can and should be proud of. Take pride in your class, and take pride in your school.
So let’s build up that energy, but instead of aiming at each other, focus on beating Fremont. They won’t know what hit them.
