Through my twenty-five years in education, I have seen many homecomings that have included everything from amazing pep rallies, to parades and bonfires. And one thing that I know for sure is that Homecoming is more than a celebration of our athletic teams, but a way to bring the whole school community together in a shared purpose to give everyone a sense of enthusiasm for school. @SirKenRobinson mentioned in one of his latest talks, “How to escape education’s death valley”the purpose of leaders is not “command and control,” but “climate control” and exactly the reason why I believe a substantial and successful homecoming is essential. Homecoming gets everyone excited and feeling optimistic about their environment. Furthermore, a BIG homecoming plants the seeds for a thriving culture where kids feel more connected to their school and teachers and therefore, more likely to learn.
In this day and age leaders/principals can be swept up in the testing culture and many feel the need to cut many of these non-academic events. However, this past week I observed one of the greatest Homecoming weeks ever at Millbrook High School and it truly confirms the idea that a lively, positive culture will produce more long lasting results than a culture that is dull and dormant and focused solely on preparing for exams.
As leaders how do we harness the power of Homecoming?
- Homecoming is the perfect opportunity to build a more tolerant culture where all groups coexist and all students feel like they belong. At MHS, I was impressed with how the Art and Music departments came together to make Homecoming special. The Art Department designed the Homecoming shirts and along with the high school art students created an amazing outside painting of our mascot, the Blazer, on the hill leading up to the athletic field. It was impressive and the perfect way to include our artists in the festivities. The MHS Chorus and Band were an important part of our pre-game celebrations and made us feel like we were at a large college-sporting event with the sound of “On Wisconsin” playing for each touchdown. In our sound booth, we had our technicians and future radio deejays, who through Homecoming had a glance into a future career and a new way to connect to school. These events were a special way to create value and purpose for all students.
- Spirit week activities gives principals the opportunity to empower teachers and students in leadership roles. For the first time ever class advisors and students were given total control over the week’s events and they were thrilled. With that, they literally took the ball and ran with it. The class advisors did a fantastic job building spirit throughout the ranks with homemade t-shirts, banners and activities to bring everyone together. All teachers did something to make spirit week contagious, whether it was face painting or grilling the burgers at the MHS Athletic Barbecue, everyone put in extra effort for our students. Additionally, the seniors took a leading role in getting the entire student body on board by demonstrating that it’s “cool” to be a part of these activities. In fact, I have never seen so many students at a high school pep rally participate in all of the fun events not to mention the large amount of participation in each day’s spirit activities. Student Council provided tons of decorations and props for the week, which increased everyone’s enthusiasm. Our PBIS Team made a mission this year to create a culture where everyone is excited to come to school and there is no doubt that their efforts paid off. They planned a two-hour pep rally that included fun, team-building activities where all students participated at every grade level. They also united the faculty with an amazing flash mob dance at the end of the pep rally that ended with the whole student body out on the dance floor. It was an incredible and wonderful site to see everyone join together in the fun. It also demonstrates the level of caring on the part of our faculty who made the extra effort to learn the dances so that we could do something special for our student body. This was also a great way to build unity and cohesiveness among the faculty that increased their joy as well. These positive feelings lifted everyone’s spirits and created a culture of good energy that will sustain us during stressful times.
- Homecoming events are about the whole community and can be used as an opportunity to “give back”.” Along with our many spirit activities, MHS had a canned food competition where each grade contributed canned food to see which grade could contribute the most cans. This canned food drive will help supply our local food pantry at a critical time of the year right before the holidays and teaches students the importance of giving back to our community. It also was another good team building activity where students, who aren’t athletes, artists or musicians, can play an important role during the week.
Our MHS Homecoming was impressive! The events gave us all a sense of the wonderful possibilities that lie ahead for our school with a shared mission of teamwork, collaboration and good cheer!