Homecoming concludes spirit week on a high note

Students+sing+and+dance+along+with+Party+Planet+during+the+homecoming+dance.+Throughout+the+night%2C+the+band+played+songs+varying+from+swing+music+to+todays+pop.

Photo: Juliana Wall

Students sing and dance along with Party Planet during the homecoming dance. Throughout the night, the band played songs varying from swing music to today’s pop.

The homecoming football game and dance concluded spirit week on Oct. 3 and received great reviews by many high school students.

The night kicked off with a fan tunnel by students to welcome the football team to the field and get the crowd fired up for the game. St. George’s played Fayette Academy and won 48-14, with touchdowns by Chase Hayden, Clay Crenshaw, and Derek Dixon.

During halftime, the homecoming court presentation began with welcoming Carson Head, a current patient at St. Jude’s who is battling with osteosarcoma. She walked down the field before the homecoming court girls alongside her parents, her sister, alum Chandler, and brother, eighth grader Cameron.

Following Carson Head, the ladies of the homecoming court and their escorts were introduced and recognized, beginning with the freshmen and concluding with seniors. Hallie Gillam received homecoming queen and the crown was passed down to her from Lindsey Cayce, last year’s homecoming queen who currently attends the University of Alabama.

After the football game, the dance, which was moved inside due to weather, began with music by Party Planet, playing everything from the Blues Brothers to Michael Jackson to Robin Thicke.

One of the many highlights from the dance was the band’s involvement with the students. Not only did the lead singer, Marcus Scott, venture out into the crowd and onto the bleachers to sing, but they also invited certain students to come up onto the stage and dance if they were already rocking out to a song in the crowd, including Marshall Shanks, Ragan Middleton, Anthony Fanelli, Murry Goldberg, and Alexa Dell. Additionally, the band invited Hunter Bishop, a senior, up onto the stage to perform a guitar solo with them during “Wobble” for over five minutes.

Students mentioned that they never stopped dancing for the entire time, and the homecoming dance itself received an enthusiastic, affirmative response from many students.

“It was so fun!” said Ellie Franklin, class of 2018. “People were swing dancing left and right and just enjoying themselves.”

“It was a blast! I have never been to homecoming [in] my whole high school career, but last night made up [for] everything I’ve missed out on!” said Sarah Moon, class of 2015.

Hallie Gillam, student senate president, noted that the student senate was also satisfied with the results of spirit week and the dance.

“The student senate is incredibly pleased with how this week turned out. We are very proud of the hard work we did and hope that everyone liked it as much as we did!”