A week full of fun and shenanigans for students
St. Clair’s homecoming festivities were scheduled in an unusual way this year. This was because the pep fest and parade – usually held on Fridays at a typical homecoming – took place on Thursday, October 10, to coincide with St. Clair’s homecoming football game against United South Central that night.
The energy and passion of being a St. Clair Cyclone was not lessened by the pep fest being closer to the middle of the week, though. The shenanigans of the homecoming court entertained every student, and everyone was cheering on their favorite court member during the festivities; seniors Adeline Lotton and Addison Nicolai conducted most of the festivities.
The pep fest started with students in grades 7-12 who had beads to play the ultimate game of rock paper scissors. Each student that lost their match gave up their beads. In the end, freshman Victor Zeldenrust came out of the match victorious, donning several beads around his neck.
Afterward, the homecoming court faced off against each other in the first of two games featuring them. The first was “Guess the Song,” with the queen candidates squaring off against the king candidates. There weren’t many songs this editor knew by name, and apparently, some of the king candidates didn’t know them either. But the queen candidates sure did, and they won by a wide margin. The last time this editor remembered them announcing the score in the middle of the contest, it was 9-4 in favor of the queens; there was no comeback for the kings.
For the next game, the court had to grab whatever object that announcers Lotton and Nicolai told them to obtain from the audience, from hair ties to phones, and make it back into the center of the basketball court. One student launched his iPhone onto the court, and while it looked like it was ruined for good, he said it was working alright. Lincoln Froehlich won the game.
The last contest involved all grades, challenging them to show their spirit by chanting the Cyclones’ battle cry. The 8th-graders did alright, but the seniors showed everyone how it was done.
Other activities at the pep fest included a cheer demonstration by the St. Clair-Loyola Spartan cheerleaders and team captains in volleyball, football, cross country, and soccer, sharing how their seasons were going.
The students all got time to work on their floats before the parade. The cheerleaders were the first unit to walk through Main Street as they showed off plenty of their stunts and dance moves. Each grade from 7-12 had their own float. 7th graders had a graveyard theme with their float with the slogan, “R.I.P. Rebels.” 8th-graders had a simple Cyclone-themed float with red and black props decorating it all.
The freshmen had someone in a dinosaur costume walking around, but their theme was “Sink the Rebels.” It was also an excuse to smack somebody with pool noodles. The Sophomores were the first float that followed the game theme for homecoming, as their float was based on the “Fruit Ninja” game.
The juniors and seniors went with the classics, the juniors going for a “Monopoly” theme with the seniors running it back to the 1980s with “Super Mario Bros.” The juniors decorated the sides of their float with properties known to any Monopoly player, such as the Boardwalk and Kentucky Avenue. The seniors’ float included the green pipe known to send Mario down into the sewer levels of the game.
Unsurprisingly, the seniors took first place, with the juniors in second, as both floats were wildly creative. The 7th-graders got a top-three spot for the junior high with a third-place finish.
Although the football team lost to USC later that night 38-7, it didn’t deter the school spirit. The juniors and seniors faced off in beefcake volleyball and powderpuff football on Friday night, October 11.
Despite being a little later in the school year and the atypical scheduling, homecoming at St. Clair was a great time, with students getting their creativity on with floats and embodying the Cyclone school spirit.
Check out the photos that the Journal got of St. Clair’s Pep Fest and Parade below! Photos by Michael Roy.
