Homecoming 2016 occurs despite Hurricane Matthew delay

Faculty and students celebrated their annual Homecoming Week at Airport High School, which began October 3rd and 4th but was continued on the 12-14 after school was closed for several days due to Hurricane Matthew evacuations. Various spirit-filled events took place despite the gap in time.

Monday, October 3, began with Neflix/movie character day. Students and teachers dressed as characters from their favorite films and shows. For example, special ed teacher, Mrs. Kish, dressed as Walter White, a character from Breaking Bad.

Tuesday, October 4, continued with the dress-up days, this one being themed Tie vs. Tye Dye day. This spirit day had numerous participants, including Mr. Gray, Mrs. Rasmussen, and Mrs. Fowler from the 300 hallway.

On Tuesday evening, students and faculty received word per Governor Haley that school would be cancelled the rest of the week because of evacuations from the Low Country due to Hurricane Matthew. Traffic on I-26 was reversed and busses were used to evacuate people from the coastal areas, which impeded traffic and transportations resources in our area despite a lack of damage caused by weather. Despite this obstacle, however, Mr. Bailey and the members of student government, though irked that a pending natural disaster affected their hard work and plans, returned the following week ready to pick up with festivities on Wednesday as if nothing had happened.

A view of the sky on the first day off, white and cloudy but not raining. [Photo by Mrs. R.]

A view of Mrs. R.'s deck after the storm. Although she lost power and much debris fell from surrounding trees, the damage itself was not that bad. [Photo by Mrs. R.]

After two HoCo themeless days following our return to school, October 12's spirit day was Slacks vs. Slackers. The students had the choice of either dressing down like a couch potato or dressing to impress. Airport students took complete advantage of this spirit day and sophomores won the award for most spirit. Standing out among the crowd was Mrs. Rabon, who rocked a pink Eeyore pajama set.

Senior Bev H. rocks her PJs. Most students, like Bev, opted for slacker attire rather than slacks. [Photo by Cianni P.]

Two more seniors, Jennifer M. and Nikki A., pose in the Commons. They too opted to dress down rather than dress up. [Photo by Christian M.]

Noah G., one of the few students to opt for the "slacks" look, looking fresh wearing his executive suit. [Photo by Christian M.]

Thursday’s spirit day was Favorite College or Sports Team day. Students wore their favorite sports jersey and teachers and faculty wore their college gear to represent where they went to school at.

Social Studies teacher Mr. Rivers sports gear from his alma mater, USC. [Photo by Cianni P.]

One of the other main festivities included hall decorating, which any class advisor will tell you requires many, many man hours. Mr. Fowler and Mrs. Rasmussen, who co-sponsor the Class of 2018, estimate they spent a combined 50 hours working on their hall decorations. The hall decorations each correspond with the year's theme, by the way. This year, the theme was American Cities. Freshman decorated the 200 hall for Hollywood, sophomores made the 300 hallway look like Honolulu, juniors transformed the 400 hall into Charleston, and the Class of 2017 continued their three-year winning streak with a laudable change of the 500 hall into New York City.

A view of the 200 hall, where freshmen attempted to create a red carpet Hollywood motif. [Photo by Mariah C.]

Close up some freshmen hall decorations, which appears to be a Walk of Fame rip-off mixed with movie ticket decor. [Photo by Mariah C.]

Here you can see a portion of the juniors' hallway, which they attempted to decorate to replicate Charleston. In this photo, you can see a door decorated as a crab, which are common in the low country area. No shown were their attempts at the Ravanell Bridge, Rainbow Row, and Charleston Aquarium. [Photo by Guadalupe I.]

Other events during the week included a band parade through the halls on Thursday afternoon, a pep rally and car float parade on Friday afternoon, a tailgating event before the game, the game itself versus North Augusta, and of course the crowning of the Homecoming Queen during halftime.

A group of seniors brandish their class flag in the parade. [Photo by Robbie S.]

With this years homecoming being the first for freshmen, they enjoyed every moment of it, down to decorating their own hall and having a chance to lip sync to their class song “Party in the USA” at the pep rally. Airport freshman, Charade S., stated, “This was my first homecoming and it was way better than i’d imagined. My favorite spirit day was Netflix and movie character day. This was a great way to kick off the year.”

A big thanks to Mr. Bailey, Mr. Coleman, and all the advisors and student government members who made Homecoming 2016 a huge success!