Whispers of anticipation fill the halls as homecoming draws close. “Can you believe who she’s going with? Did you see how he asked, it was so cute?! Her dress is adorable!” It seems like homecoming is the only topic for conversation for a whole month.

Although most of us only experience homecoming from the perspective of a guest, a lot of students help to contribute to your magical night. The speech and debate teams act as the fairy godmothers for our homecoming occasion. Senior speech member, Lauren Schleick, sheds some light into the planning process.

“We work for two or three hours every Monday. There are usually anywhere from three to 40 members that are there to help.” The entire speech and debate team comes out to plan and help to create a fun and original atmosphere.

Yet another aspect of the dance that is delegated to the speech team is the theme. The theme is one of the most important parts of homecoming as it helps to set an exciting mood for the evening.

“We all throw out ideas and put them up on the board and then vote on them,” explains Schleick. Some of the top ideas for this year included: ‘Under the Sea’, ‘USA’, ‘Night at the Movies’, and ‘Dino World’.  They debated what theme they should use, until Mr. Davis, the former debate coach, came in and suggested ‘Fun and Games’. This soon morphed into the idea to have an ‘Arcade’ themed dance.

“It’s challenging to make all of the decorations as we can’t buy anything but have to make it all ourselves,” said Schleick. Working the dance acts as a fundraiser for the speech and debate teams and serves as an opportunity for team bonding.

“I enjoy it even though it can get boring and hard sometimes,” Schleick explains. They have a total of five work days leading up to the event. However, the night of the dance, team members are relinquished of their duties and allowed to enjoy their night.

So this homecoming, when you’re looking around the arcade inspired gym, enjoying the ambiance, remember to thank your peers that made it all possible.