Homecoming Week 2025

Hello Nighthawks! It's that time of year again: Homecoming! It's been a busy 6 days with spirit week, the fight or flight game, the pep rally, the homecoming football game, and best of all, the homecoming dance! As some readers may know, I've written a homecoming article every year since I started at the Nighthawk Times. Instead of just recapping this year, I thought I'd make it a little more interesting by getting feedback from the student body! To do this, I sent a survey out through our newspaper’s Instagram account (@thenighthawktimes) and read through all the responses to get a general consensus and average star rating of each event.

Spirit Week - 2 stars 

This year's spirit week was jam packed! The themes were: Tacky tourist, fanatics vs dramatics, celebrity in disguise, and flashing lights/neon. Student Council even took the time to decorate the hallways with on themed pictures and street names! Overall, the student body had mixed feelings about the days. Many explained that the themes got too complex and confusing, making it extremely difficult to create a fitting outfit out of everyday clothes. Others suggested that the themes were too specific and could’ve been broader, such as “sports day” or “celebrity lookalike”. Students also mentioned that spirit days from past years would have been more memorable and motivating like “Adam Sandler” day, “pajama” day, or “twin” day. Although the spirit week themes were good in theory, there may have been more participation if all grades or if more branches of the student council were allowed to vote on days that fit with the New York theme but were easy enough for everyone to do.

Fight or Flight - 4 stars 

The Fight or Flight (formerly called powderpuff) game was on Thursday. The junior and senior girls went head to head with their coaches cheering them on from the sidelines! The seniors kept their winning streak but the juniors won in volume and spirit (or at least that's what we tell ourselves…).  The student body had pretty positive ratings of the game. The only negative was that those in the audience didn't feel motivated to go or were sad about the name change. In contrast, those on the field and the cheer squad agreed that it was fun to dress in pink, participate,hangout with your friends, and cheer on your grade. However, it was mentioned that many instructions were unclear for the cheer squad and it was disappointing that no junior and senior boys were cheerleaders this year to get the crowd excited.

Pep Rally - 3 stars 

The pep rally was on Friday. It focused on getting excited for the HOCO game, presenting performances by Cheer and Poms, and some other fun activities. The general consensus of this part of Homecoming week was divided. Many students felt unmotivated to go and so-so about the actual content of the pep rally. Others thought it was fun and got you excited for spirit week. Overall, it depends on your mindset and individual feeling, but it was good the school provided options for those that get overwhelmed or are not into the environment of pep rallies.

HOCO Game - 2 stars 

This year's homecoming game was Friday evening at All City where we went up against Denver South High School. Of course, Northfield won! People in the stands were decked out in neon colors and fun signs. The opinions on this event were pretty split. Many believed that it was a fun way to show school spirit and hangout with people you cherish. Others did not go because it is a loud setting that can get overstimulating. However, it's all up to the individual and what environments are comfortable, which will vary person to person. What everyone could agree on was that the halftime performances were exciting and impressive and that we EASILY took the win!

HOCO Dance - 3.5 stars 

This year's Homecoming dance theme was New York, New York! It was hosted in the cafeteria and decorated with balloons and glowsticks. The teachers wore statue of liberty hats and there was a 360 camera. The feedback on this was mixed as well but leaning more positive. The energy of the DJ and decorations of glowsticks was talked about a lot. The actual setup with the cafeteria and outside area was also loved, being able to get fresh air when the dance floor got stuffy and sit when your feet get tired of heels. Many complaints were about logistics and environment. People explained that it was fun to dress up, dance, and hangout with friends but the music choices and energy was a little bit lackluster. Others said that the theme's idea was good in theory but there weren't a lot of decorations for the theme other than the teachers. There was also a lot of upset about the snacks and drinks. For example, you could get one free drink and snack but a small bottle of water counted as your one drink and the water fountains were closed off. Another upset was about how they stopped letting people in after a certain time even if they had their IDs and tickets. 

Moving onto our royalty, the homecoming court was PACKED with 20 nominees. For seniors, Chloe Erbecker, Numair Jaiya, Charlie Mordecai, Tiana Taylor, and Mia Vandesande were nominated. For juniors, Von Antwine, Hudson Gier, Kamilla Irfano, Naysa Lisan, and Laurens Schunk were nominated. For sophomores, Siashia Allen, Henry Berget, Arianna Rodriguez, Claudia Rojas, and Golden Scott were nominated. Finally for freshmen, Andrew Deelo, Ilias Karmali, Jordynn Lee, Ella Mosier, and Zoe Schmidt were nominated. In the end, two from each grade won, taking home a crown and sash.

Well, that wraps up homecoming week! The average ratings of the week as a whole was 4 stars which is pretty good! However, there was room for improvement in many ways. Despite negative feedback, students feel grateful for the thought and care that is put into homecoming week. Hopefully, this feedback is not seen as an insult or negative review, but as a compliment to staff and student council and as an inspiration to improve some areas next year. I hope that this article was enjoyable to read and I'll see you all next year for homecoming week 2026!