Monday marked the start of PCM’s (Prairie City-Monroe) homecoming week. I have many fond memories from homecoming week starting in elementary all the way through my senior year. This year is my oldest daughter’s first time experiencing homecoming first hand and I’m excited to see what she thinks.
Since she only has preschool on Mondays and Thursdays she will only participate in two dress up days. Monday was crazy hair day for the elementary school and even though I’m not sure she understands why I did it, she went to school with five ponytails on her head and an assortment of hair clips. She thought it was pretty funny in the mirror and I’m excited to see what she thinks of all of the other kids.
Thursday is “Glam it up” day because it is picture day as well. We might not go too extreme on the accessories but some fancy shoes and a sparkly purse might add the perfect touch.
When I was in elementary school, Thursday was Boom Night and everyone gathered in the commons at the high school for skits, cheerleader and dance team performances and of course the crowning of the king and queen. Friday always meant the high schoolers would come in the morning and do face painting. I can only imagine what I looked like with a half yellow, half red face and what mess I made when it all had to come off.
In high school, Spirit Night took over on Thursday and a grand event was made of crowning the king and queen. Some skits were still attempted and the cheerleaders led the crowd to get pumped up for the big game. As soon as the night wrapped up, my friends and I headed out to T.P. all of the football players homes. Being that our school district covers quite a large area, we had to make a plan and usually split up to make sure everyone got covered.
I always had my favorites to go to, like the one mom that always came out and gave us cookies and pop and another that snapped our pictures while we worked to destroy her yard. Every year we wrapped the night up at the same guys house and went to the slumber party that followed.
My senior year I was in charge of planning the entire homecoming event, as secretary of activities in student government. Work started long before the first school bell rang, when purchasing of sashes, crowns, flowers and the hundreds of other accessories needed to pull off the event.
The week of homecoming I worked every morning to gather and tally votes for the class competitions and who would be on the court. It was fun being behind the scenes and knowing all the juicy information before everyone else.
As a cheerleader and a dance team member as well as a member of the color guard, I had to juggle a lot of responsibilities that week to ensure everything was covered. It was my first real lesson in delegating and how to deal with people that don’t do what they are suppose to.
Everything went really well the whole week, thanks to my two inch thick binder, and in the end I think we even won the game. I hope that my daughters can have the same great memories of their homecomings as I do.
Contact Staff Writer Jamee A. Pierson at (641) 792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com.