Homecoming 2021
Homecoming Parade
Last week, the student body competed in homecoming week according to grade. Our homecoming theme was Disney this year. The seniors were Disney Classics, the juniors were Villains, sophomores were Marvel, and the freshmen were Pixar. Each grade decorated a trailer according to their theme.
Raiderettes Homecoming Performances!
The raiderette dance team worked hard for weeks making sure that our homecoming performance at the football game and pep assembly was perfect. We practiced four days a week putting our football game performance and pep assembly performance together. Our homecoming game day started with matching outfits at school. We took lots of pictures and performed an incredible pep assembly performance after school. We all worked so hard to make our performance amazing and we were all so proud to see that we nailed our dance at the assembly. After the assembly, we all headed home to get ready for the game that night. We put on our performance makeup and uniform and packed our dance shoes to go put on our second performance of the day. Before the game, we warm up, stretch, and mentally prepare ourselves to perform.
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We spend time with each other hyping up for the game. Our game starts with the pregame where we create a tunnel for the football team to run through as we perform the school song in front of the crowd. We wait for the kick-off to cheer on our team and then go get changed for our halftime performance. We sit as a team and watch the game together. During the second quarter, we walk over to the side of the field and run through our dance to make sure we have everything solid. Before we go out and perform we do our hype circle where everyone gets a turn in the middle of the circle to dance our nerves away. Our addenlines were pumping once we took the field after the cheerleaders. We got in our opening pose and waited for the music to play. That first move hit and everyone started cheering. The feeling of us performing on the field together is something so special that we all cherish. After giving an outstanding performance we walk off the field feeling great. We watch the band perform and then are free to go watch the rest of the game up in the stand where we cheer for our team.
Best Buddies Float & Exec Board
Best Buddies is a group for all kinds of people! You can create one-on-one friendships with our lovely buddies and create wonderful memories, such as the Homecoming parade! We all came together to decorate our beautiful float and had a wonderful time in the parade throwing candy, hanging out before, and creating lively signs to decorate! There were many small victories the night of the parade. Lots of the buddies were able to connect with new people and make friends. Some that don’t talk much were the loudest ones cheering :))
We are led by our President Reagan Perry, and Vice President Kayla Gerhardt. Both Reagan and Kayla are involved in Unified PE at East Peoria Community High School, and are in the Penguin Project through Eastlight Theater. Our secretary, Brooklin Herring, is a returning board member and is also a part of our girls tennis team. Kaylie Booker, our Treasurer, is new to the board this year and is involved in unified PE as well! Best Buddies meets once a month for a fun outing. If you would like to sign up for best buddies you can either join with the google classroom Code: bm56xtm or sign up at Bestbuddies.org/join, and sign up for our Remind app! The number is 81010 and text the message @bestbudEP
Cheerleaders Homecoming Performance
The homecoming game was against Limestone on Friday. For the game the cheerleaders got to get out on the field and perform for the crowd, and show everyone what they have been working on. All of them really gave it their all for the performance and did not disappoint! The music, stunts, dances , and jumps were all so put together and you can tell they put a lot of time and effort into their performance! Come to the senior night game to see the next performance the cheerleaders get to put on for the crowd!
Raider Games
The annual Raider Games at East Peoria Community High School was held on September 20, 2021. The Raider Games are a homecoming tradition at the highschool where each grade competes with each other at various activities and sports. The different activities were wiffle ball, four square tournament, volleyball, and bags tournaments. Juniors Sadie Crafton and Taven Miller were some of the volleyball players competing in volleyball, and Hanna Moeller and Brooklin Martin were some of the senior players competing. Thank you to all the students who participated!
Homecoming Hallway Decorating!!!
On September 19, students from each class gathered at the school to decorate their respective hallways for the upcoming Disney-themed Homecoming Week. From 8 A.M. to 4 P.M., these students decorated their assigned hallways to match their class’s theme: freshmen were given Pixar, sophomores were given Marvel, juniors were given Disney Villains, and seniors were given Classic Disney. Each class brought their own talents to the table, but after voting, a rank was decided upon! The sophomores came in fourth, freshmen came in third, juniors came in second, and seniors secured first place. Thank you to everyone who helped decorate!
Spirit Days!!
An exciting week filled with fun and excitement just finished at EP! Luckily this year we were able to have Homecoming again, and during Homecoming week students are able to participate in numerous activities, including the infamous spirit days. This year the overall theme was Disney, so each spirit day was relevant to Disney. This year we had a mix of new spirit days as well as some traditional ones. Monday was "Welcome to the Animal Kingdom" where students were encouraged to wear different animal prints. Tuesday was "Monster's University" in which students were to wear different college gear. Wednesday was "Disney Day" where each class wore their class shirt in their color (freshmen were blue, sophomores were purple, juniors were black, and seniors were red). Thursday was "Find your tweedledum Day" and students found one or a couple of their friends to twin with. Finally, Friday was "Raider Pride" day and everyone was to wear maroon and gold to support the school. During this week, I was able to ask some students what their favorite spirit days were and what they enjoyed most about this week! Senior Hanna Moeller says, “my favorite spirit day is animal print day because it was new and different from what we’ve had before.”
Sophomore Myah Lopez explains, “my favorite spirit day was college gear day because I am a huge Florida State fan, and I was able to rock all my Florida State gear!” Just like many others, each of these interviewees loved the spirit days this year. Everyone was able to go all out, have fun with their friends, and show their Raider pride!