With new leadership in Central’s Student Council this year, new changes for homecoming regarding the activities were implemented. Many of these changes were made in order to test out new ideas and compare to previous years. The biggest change for Homecoming that Student Council implemented was that it was primarily run by the Student Council leadership, where in past years, the staff planned a significant portion of it, especially regarding the pep rally. Central’s leadership, President. Bowman Seitz, Vice President, Alex Johnson, Secretary, Samantha Winchell, and Treasurer, Kaitlyn Foster, all collaborated on this year’s activities. This included the pep rally, the dodgeball tournament, Sip Central throughout the week, hallway decorations, and the Homecoming Dance.
Vice President, Alex Johnson, explained how the majority of the planning with the pep rally was done by Student Council leadership this year, as he stated, “ The teachers have done a great job in the past with the pep rally, but I think having students advising on it and taking the lead on it helped make sure that the stuff that was planned was going to be stuff that students actually enjoyed.” Although Student Council took the lead, Mrs. Kulaga, the Student Council supervisor also contributed as Johnson further stated, “All of the pep rally we were planning alongside Mrs. Kulaga.”
The pep rally this year was different from previous years with the various new games, and a new way to sign up to participate in those games. Student Council member and Junior at Billings Central, Emily Day, expressed the involvement of Student Council in the making of the games as she stated, “We had our first meeting a couple weeks ago, and during that, we brainstormed and came up with a couple ideas.” With the involvement of every Student Council member, new games were introduced in the pep rally. This created a great new experience not only for the new freshmen, but for the sophomores to seniors as well.
Cy Hansen throwing ball in dodge ball tournament. (Sahara Small)
Aside from the new pep rally games and structure of the pep rally, Student Council also took action with new changes to the hallway decorations, Sip Central, and the addition of the dodgeball tournament on Friday before the pep rally. Unlike past years, Student Council assigned colors for all of the hallways, making the hallways each have their own, unique display. Describing the change, Johnson explained, “In the past it’s been seniors doing all black for their hallway and everyone else plans a theme on their own. This year we coordinated it so seniors do all black, freshmen do all white, sophomores do all green, and juniors do silver and gold.”
Sip Central was also provided throughout the week, something that was never a homecoming tradition before. With the addition, many Student Council members were able to get involved in working the stand, and the student body enjoyed this addition as well.
Lastly, the dodgeball tournament was added to Friday’s agenda, which was a huge success. There was at least one team for every grade as well as a staff team. With the multitude of teams involved, the student body had a great time watching all of the games. Reflecting on the dodgeball tournament turnout, Day explained, “It was a way for people to get into the homecoming spirit.” The dodgeball tournament ended up being a great way for the student body to be involved and get excited for homecoming.
Senior Hallway in the morning all decorated for homecoming week. (Sahara Small)
The changes to the hallway decorations and the pep rally, as well as the additions of the dodgeball tournament and Sip Central, dramatically increased the involvement of students and was a great way for Central students to represent their school spirit. Every student had the option to participate in some way throughout the week. Due to the turnouts of these changes, Student Council plans to continue these traditions for the upcoming years.
