Cookeville High School commemorates homecoming

Along with the festivities taking place the week of Sep. 30 through Oct. 4, Cookeville High School celebrates this year’s Homecoming on Oct 4, with an off-campus parade for the first time since 2013.

The homecoming dance will be Saturday, Sep. 28 from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. in the commons area. Tickets are $5 and will be sold during lunch the week of Sept. 23 through Sept. 27. The idea of the dance is “come as you are” and will be casual to relieve the pressure on students who may feel they need a date to attend.

The theme is “Tune in to watch us win,” which is focused on TV shows.

The class schedule during Homecoming week will be seven periods, with no block classes on Thursday and Friday.

The dress up days of the week are “Melodrama Monday” (drama shows), “Toon Tuesday” (cartoons), “Western Wednesday” (westerns/ country shows), “Throwback Thursday” (old tv shows). “Fan Friday” strays from the TV show theme, allowing students to dress in spirit wear for CHS or their favorite sports team.

The float themes are Wheel of Fortune (freshman), Scooby Doo (sophomores), Stranger Things (juniors) and Phineas and Ferb (seniors). There will also be banners displayed in the commons area created by each grade.

Principal Max Petett was instrumental in getting the parade to travel around the square during the day. In the past, the parade took place on Thursday evenings.

“I wanted to do it during school in hopes to involve more kids,” said Mr. Petett.

The last time CHS’s homecoming parade went through town was in 2013. The parade was scheduled again for 2014, but it was rained out. In the following years the parade was not rescheduled because people believed no one missed it. CHS had a parade on-campus last year, but participation was poor.

Mr. Petett believes that having an off-campus parade will stimulate more participation from the community and students.

Mr. Pettet said, “Where I come from it was a big deal. The whole town turned out to see the homecoming parade. It was always such an awesome sight to see the community come out and [see] the parade and floats and kids go by. I wanted to include the community and show some of the positive things that we’re doing here at school. Showcase our kids, showcase the floats, and do it not only for our kids, but also for the community.”

The parade and game are on Oct. 4. Students will go to first, second and third period classes, and skip to fifth/sixth period. They will be released from class at 11:30 and sponsors are responsible for their participants' transportation. Other students wanting to spectate will need to turn in a parent note and check themselves out.

Attendants will line up on Freeze St. at 12 p.m. and the parade will begin at 12:30. The floats, various clubs, sports teams, and other organizations will be in the parade.

The estimated time for the 0.6 mile parade it 30 minutes. It will take off from Freeze St., go south on Washington, go right on Broadway and end at the depot. Then students will return to the school by 1:15 p.m.

The students who do not travel to see the parade will be able to see it as it returns to the school by lining up on Cavalier Dr. Then, there will be a pep rally following the parade at 2 p.m. and dismiss school at 3:00.

The Cavaliers will face the Warren County Pioneers at 7 p.m. on our home field.