As everyone must already know, the Homecoming theme is out! Music genres it is! It has been decided: the seniors chose rock, juniors got musicals, sophomores will be country, and freshmen pop. This will be a very tuneful homecoming! However, many changes have been made. Some are good and some are bad, with supporters and opponents. For starters, the skit has been removed. As Ms. Kelly said when she was questioned, student government believed that the skit brought many students a lot of stress. This is caused by the question of who will write the skit, which thespians would have the time to participate, and what jokes are appropriate, but funny, for the audience. Sophomores Gaby Chariff and Photini Kamvyselli are glad of this change, because instead of a skit, there is a music video. This gives the students the opportunity to get a little bit more creative with the video effects. It will be interesting to see how each grade shows their knowledge of technology and applies it to the music video. Another change was the the carnival event. This will be happening during the Cancer Walk on October 18, just like last year. But something that has been added is that instead of being run by clubs, it is run by the different grades. Last year the points were given to the grades with most tickets gained by playing the games. However, this year the grades have to design booths that will be judged and that is how the points will be rewarded. The carnival event is a fairly good way to promote the Cancer Walk and it will bring many more people to the walk which will raise more money. As many people know and are excited about, the video game part this year will be FIFA. Another activity that was added to the homecoming activities was the “Grouping Screaming Game”. As Jackie Lash, the Student Government President, stated when questioned, the Grouping Screaming Game requires the whole grade to participate and work together as a group. Jackie claimed, “The idea was to get the entire grade involved in an activity that we hope will be fun and funny.” This requires a lot of participation. In addition to this activity, water polo was brought back this year after two years of swimming. Except this year water polo is more intensified! No more noodle polo, this will be good and challenge serious water polo players and any other students who would like to try out the game! They replaced the swimming with water polo event because this year there were more water polo supporters. Jackie Lash included that every year it depends on the students and what they’re more passionate about. Apparently this year the students prefered water polo! A major change to Homecoming this year was the point values. The entire week is based on 365 points. The activity with most points is the Carnival Booths with a maximum of 35 points. After that is the Battle of the Bands, Music Videos, Powder Puff Cheerleaders, with 30 points each for 1st place. Previously, the skit had been worth the most points, but with the dissolution of the skit, the point system has been rebalanced. All the sports events are worth the same amount of points. But as Sydney Thomas said when interviewed, there is an important debate about whether the Brain Bowl should be worth more than Project Runway. One side argues that the brain bowl is the only academic activity in homecoming, so it should be worth more points. On the other hand, the other side argued that since school is all about academics, it should not be worth more. This discussion is still being argued, so there is no definite answer yet. Out of a random sample of six students, the ratio of the people who liked the theme and the people who did not was split down the middle, three to three. When Ms. Kelly was asked, she said, “students have been recommending music genres as a theme for years now.” She wouldn’t say the runner up themes, because they can always be used next year!