“Something I will remember in 30 years from Homecoming will definitely be wearing the Panther Costume during the Sophomore Mock Rock, and almost beating the seniors in spirit week,” said Soph. Dominic Aquino. Aquino, who participated in the spirit week games, homecoming court, and the Sophomore Mock Rock, has made the most of his Sophomore homecoming.

However, has Homecoming always been the same? Many of the teachers and staff here at West Ottawa say this school event has changed over the years since their own Homecoming week. Here is what they remember from their Homecoming.

“I remember nearly every student went to the [Homecoming] game.  At halftime, the court  paraded around in convertibles, driving around the football field on the track.  I remember our Homecoming competitions were much more significant.  We had a parade float for every class.  I remember floats getting destroyed, and classes sabotaging each others floats.  One year we even paraded through the neighborhood [Mae Rose neighborhood] prior to the Homecoming game with the floats.  The day after, we would all go to the dance, and heck, I don’t even think the dance was formal.”  – Instructor Mike Jaeger.

“I remember the excitement, and the sense of pride for the school.” – Instructor Joette Gulbis

“My best memories were in my hometown we used to do a parade.  So we made floats back then for the parade. So each class would make a float and they’d have to go in the parade. Then, after the parade, it was going to the game and watching my boys play. And of course, the dances were always fun. The funniest memory was when my friend’s car broke down, and we had to call his mom to come pick us [them and their dates] up and bring us to Homecoming” – Instructor Brian Metz

“We were at the Powder Puff game, and when I was in high school, we were actually cheerleaders at the game. So yeah, I was a male cheerleader for our high school Powder Puff games.”  -Assistant Principal Bre Bartels

” One of my best memories was Jerny (instructor Kristie Jernigan) scoring all of our touchdowns for our Powder Puff games. I was the center and she was the wide receiver.”  -Instructor Shanna Meyer.