It’s time to get excited at Watertown High School, because Spirit Week and Homecoming dance are next week! The Pride Club wants to help restore spirit and excitement to the school, especially after a long two years of boring.

Spirit Week starts Monday, Sept. 20, with Pajama Day. Tuesday (Sept. 21) is Jersey Day, Wednesday (Sept. 22) is Beach Day, Thursday (Sept. 23) is Neon Day, and Friday (Sept. 24) is Raider Nation Day. The themes were chosen by the Pride Club, which is open to all WHS students.

”In Pride, that’s what we do,” said Emma Fallon, a co-leader of Pride, as well as the president of the Class of 2022. “We all have a conversation, we all have some ideas, and we want to get more participation. There’s no one person calling the shots. Everybody has a voice.”

Emma said that Pride “is open for all kids and we would love underclassmen to join.” The group plans and organizes events, decorates the school, and helps run the activities, too.

Pride is well aware that school has been anything but normal for the past two years, and it is strongly encouraging school spirit and participation. Pride meets mornings, as needed. To join, a WHS student only needs to contact club adviser Amanda Makosky ([email protected]).

“There are two grades [freshmen and sophomore] who we want to participate more often in school spirit activities,” she said.

For Raider Nation Day, the WHS community is encouraged to wear WHS merch and also to attend the football game, which will be the first Friday night home game of the season.

”We want more school spirit, and we just thought [Raider Nation Day] was a way to amp up Homecoming and the football game because there’s been a lack of that over the past two years,” Emma said.

On Saturday (Sept. 25) will be the Homecoming dance. It will be held from 7-10 p.m. in the WHS gym and the courtyard. 

“[Homecoming] Is usually around early-mid October, but this year we wanted it early because we want it near the first football game [under the lights at Victory Field],” she said.

Dance tickets will cost $7 and be sold next week at lunch. Tickets will also be available at the door for $10. All money raised will go back to Pride. There will be pizza and drinks provided. Pride is encouraging students to dress up.

​​”We were going to have a theme, but there isn’t much of one this year,” Emma said. “There will be a bit of a decoration theme, but I think it’s not that important, you could just wear black, red, and gold. We are encouraging formal attire.”

​​”In the past, people did not want to come to Homecoming, so we hoped that if we made it more formal, people would want to come.”

The gym will be cut in half by a curtain and the courtyard will be open.

“We couldn’t have a Homecoming without some outdoor element [because of COVID protocols],” she said. ”Some kids felt weird [at past dances] ]because there weren’t that many people and the gym is huge. I think it will be better in a compact space and feel less awkward.”

Pride is working hard to get all students involved this year. After Spirit Week and the Homecoming dance, a second Spirit Week is being planned for November, leading up to the Pep Rally and Thanksgiving football game.

”I think the big takeaway is that we want student participation,” Emma said. “We didn’t just do this to do this, we did this so students could get pumped for football games and socialize at dances, and that’s what Pride hasn’t been able to do for two years.”

(Story reported and written by Abby Hendrick, Adelle Sheynkman, Adrian Schick, Adrianna Williams, Dayana Posada. Fathima Perez-Cordero, Gina Rank, Izzy DeLorio, Jenna Atiyyat, Leanna Dorian, Liliana Souza, Maria Vasques, Nabila Abenaou, Rylee Valstyn, Toria Dicker, and Valerie Duong.)

–Sept. 17, 2021–