A week full of fun and shenanigans for JWP students

Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton’s homecoming week featured plenty of the usual shenanigans, including seniors and other fellow students “decorating” each other’s houses with toilet paper. One (or multiple) of the JWP staff also had some fun pranking the office as this editor walked into the office to check in for pup fest and found much of the front desk covered in lines of blue, silver, and white tissue paper.

Throughout the week, the district showed off its pride with several dress-up days and activities throughout homecoming. Although the spirit jug was not handed out to the junior high or senior high school winners at pep fest, Jessica Oelke had announced at the beginning that the 8th graders were in the lead for the Jr. High jug while the seniors were in the lead for the Sr. High jug.

Friday morning, the most celebratory part of homecoming week, began with a pup fest. JWP cheerleaders showed off their skills, and the JWP band played Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” while the elementary school kids got to meet the homecoming court. A friendly competition commenced as homecoming court members teamed up with select elementary students in a racing game. Participants had to sit or kneel on square scooter boards and use a plunger to navigate throughout the auditorium gym.

The teams were split up by the colors of the scooters: green, red, orange, and purple. The orange team struggled at first but was given a handicap to start the race with two plungers, helping them get back into the race. As the homecoming candidates got their turn, they were blindfolded to make things interesting. It was even at first, but Paige Walz, with the red team, gained the lead as she finished. However, the purple team, originally in last down the final stretch, won the race as Luke Cahill made plunging forward while blindfolded look easy as he sped past his fellow court members.

The next activity was a lip-synching contest, starting with King Isaiah Berndt and Queen Ellah Oliver. This editor didn’t quite know the song they were performing, but it must have been a medley as a few lines of random songs were part of the lyrics. The staff were up next, and they performed the classic N-Sync song “Bye Bye Bye.” Members of the staff lip-syncing were Mary McDonald, Heather More, Salena Nesset, and Jolene Hauger dressed up as elementary principal Jeff Adams.

After that, the homecoming court joined staff members in singing “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys, which concluded the elementary festivities.

The high schoolers got their spirit on in the afternoon in the high school gym, starting with some boys’ volleyball. The seniors played the freshmen. Although picked on by most of the crowd, the freshmen gave the seniors a difficult time, especially in the beginning. However, the seniors pulled through with a 14-8 victory in seven minutes of play. The juniors blew out the sophomores 19-9 in their matchup. Before the championship, the 7th and 8th graders got to play a four-minute game. Although the 7th graders had a good start, they lost to their older junior high schoolers 2-12. The seniors won the championship 15-7.

Next up was a game of musical chairs…with a twist. This year’s twist was that each participant had to make a basket before they could sit in a chair. It was no surprise that most of the participants left after the first few rounds were basketball players. The final two were seniors Presley James and Carter Hoehn. James ultimately won as Hoehn couldn’t sink a basket in time.

The third activity was a pie-eating contest featuring one or two members from each grade. Junior Aiden Cummins won the pie-eating contest last homecoming and repeated as the champion this year. He must really like pie, huh?

The afternoon festivities concluded with a homecoming parade featuring the homecoming court and class attendants, the JWP band with a color guard, and the volleyball and football teams. Supertintendent Jeremy Erler, who is a volunteer member of the Janesville Fire Department, led the way in a firetruck.

It was an overall good week for JWP homecoming. Although the volleyball team had close sets during its homecoming game, it swept New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva 3-0 on Thursday, October 3. WEM-JWP had some tougher competition in Waseca, and sadly, the football team lost to United South Central 18-0 on Friday, October 4. It was the second time JWP hosted USC for homecoming in a few years, and the Rebels beat them.

Although the school district ended its homecoming festivities on Friday, it was a special homecoming for members of the JWP Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2024. A special story on the banquet on Saturday, October 5 will be in this week’s paper.

Below are galleries of all the homecoming-related events for the week.

Coronation

Pup Fest

Pep Fest and Parade

Homecoming Game/Other Random Photos