Rex Putnam’s very own Junior Varsity football team will be striking up a match with Hillsboro. It is the homecoming game, meaning the very last home game for Rex Putnam this season. This season has been quite a challenge for the Varsity team so far, points-wise and physical health-wise. The team has racked up many injuries throughout the past few months, all the way to the extent that most of the Varsity players are unable to perform for the Homecoming game but will hopefully be back on their feet soon. This has led to a mixture of Junior Varsity and Varsity, but mainly Varsity, to play in the homecoming game.
Cody Wiken, an outside Linebacker for the Varsity team has mentioned how he is not nervous at all given that “the game is going to be fun and competitive.” He also mentioned how, while the season has not been up to Putnam’s standard from last year, it “has been a learning experience.” Wide Receiver and Safety player for the Varsity team, Oliver Hegdahl is very grateful to the community “for being so supportive and welcoming to (them) this season.” Overall, everyone is quite proud of the Rex Putnam football team for persevering through a trying season, but maybe Coach Andrew Hill said it best: “It’s been tough, but the kids who are involved in the Varsity football program have shown a lot of courage and a lot of resilience. There is a lot to be proud of.” Hill has had a lot of coaching experience throughout his career. While this is his first year coaching Rex Putnam, Hill has accumulated thirteen years of experience.
Another way to get the whole Rex Putnam student body together is spirit week. This is organized by Putnam’s Leadership teacher Ally Benson with the Leadership class and the student body president, Soren Shrout. During spirit week people dress up for each of the various themes every day. The main homecoming theme is the movie Inside Out. Each of the hallways is decorated according to each emotion. The part of spirit week most students tend to participate in are the different dress up themes every day: pajama day, camouflage/ outdoors, throwback (in accordance with each grade level), dress your emotion (again in accordance with each grade level), and, of course, green and gold on Friday in school colors for support for the football team. Another student favorite is the Kingsman crown. That is a literal crown that is hidden somewhere in the school. The students are given a riddle every morning and they must try and find it. Typically, the hints are geared more towards upperclassmen, but often other grade levels find it as well. The Kingsman crown is worth 500 spirit points, but that is not the only way to gain spirit points. By dressing up in theme and reporting to the spirit station, winning in the lunchtime activities, or finding spirit balls scattered around the school. These are all fun ways the Leadership team has worked incredibly hard to bring the Putnam community together and bring school spirit up. Lastly, after the football game, an after party is held. It is not a formal event, just a casual party from 9:30 to 10:30 dedicated to celebrating the football team and the students and simply having fun. There is no need to dress up or anything like that, simply wearing the same clothes one would for a slightly chilly evening Friday night will suffice.
What a select group of people are most excited about is the homecoming court. They are “a group of students elected by their peers for their exemplary school spirit and representing the Putnam ideals,” described student body president, Soren Shrout. This year’s homecoming court is as follows, freshman: Joe Salvione and Lenore Crowell, sophomores: Nemo Pittman and Sam Lang, juniors: Grant Lord and Zoey Bauer, and the seniors: Grace Scheidegger, Francis VanBockel, Annabella Anderson, and George Miller. Congratulations to these ten “exemplary” Kingsmen. It is an honor to be elected to the homecoming court. Especially for seniors, who have the opportunity to become King or Queen, which are the two seniors who have the most votes. They have a chance to live out one last hurrah before the end of high school. “I feel like I’ve never really been involved with fun high school traditions like this before, so I’m glad I have the chance to now, especially as a senior!” exclaimed Scheidegger, sharing her excitement. While the homecoming court will be honored during halftime of the game and will be officially announced during Friday’s assembly, the homecoming court did not have the opportunity to sit calmly with their friends and be announced.
Ten dedicated Leadership students drove around in a minivan between the early hours of 2:30 am and 6:00 am on Monday to announce the homecoming court to the winners. Scheidegger said: “It was so funny. It was 4:30 in the morning and I was dead asleep. Out of nowhere, I hear people walking down the stairs with the fight song blaring, and then before I know it, there’s a camera filming me with the flash turned on all the way as I’m being serenaded by like 10 people. When they were done, they put a crown on me and took my picture as I was still bundled up in my bed.” Ending it with, “I really hope I look okay.” Sharing a similar experience, Anderson was initially under the impression that it was her mother. She had completely forgotten that they do Monday morning wake ups, but her mother’s odd behavior of jokingly telling her to wear makeup to bed instantly made sense. “I am usually a morning shower kind of person, but my mother was persistent that I shower on Sunday evening. With reluctance I agreed given that Monday was pajama day, meaning all I had to do in the morning was get up and brush my hair and teeth.” The videos taken of the students will be proudly presented during Friday’s assembly.
In the end, homecoming is an American high school tradition. If that means simply dressing up for the spirit days, being a part of the football team, or supporting it. Homecoming is in a literal sense a way of finding one’s way home to your community, connecting with your friends, and maybe making new ones. Learning to do new things, decorating hallways together, and making some memories that will hopefully last a lifetime.