Due to the impact of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, Student Council President Victoria Neiva announced on Monday that the long-awaited Homecoming Spirit Week will be postponed to November 4th-8th. The Homecoming Football Game and Dance are still scheduled for their original dates on Oct. 25 and Oct. 26.  

Homecoming Spirit Week is a week of “spirit events,” leading up to the HOCO Football Game and Dance.  The week includes a relay race Tuesday, dance-off Wednesday, Falcon Feud Thursday, and float-and-skit along with the pep rally Friday. 

One of the big talking points of the shift in schedule has been that the HOCO football game and dance will remain on Oct. 25 and Oct. 26, while Spirit Week has been moved to November. Student Council president Victoria Neiva was also concerned about this, but she said the move had to be made. 

“I was worried about [the spirit level] because there won’t be a game to look forward to,” Neiva said.  

But according to Neiva, spirit event preparation comes first. 

“But I feel like Homecoming Week is such a highly anticipated time of the year that I think people would appreciate having more prep time rather than something to look forward to,” Neiva said.  

Assistant Upper School Director Mr. Moore agreed that in this case, allowing time for the classes to get ready supersedes the need to align the events with the dance.

“It’s gonna be different, not being tied to the Homecoming Dance or the Homecoming Game, so we kind of relabeled it ‘Spirit Week,” Moore said. “Hopefully having the additional time and not being [scheduled] right after the stress of the last two weeks will make it something that can be enjoyable for everybody.” 

While the schedule change was a concern, for the most part that students are still excited about the coming Spirit Week, and even more thankful that they’ll have extra prep time. Student Council worked with administration to finalize the schedule to assure it would be a fun week for all.

Junior Lucy Preston doesn’t think the schedule change is not going to curb the excitement of HOCO week.

 “Despite the change in schedule, I am still super excited for the Homecoming Football Game and Dance and am grateful for the extra time for Spirit Week,” Preston said.