Prologue:

The 2025 Hanks Homecoming was definitely one for the memory books. From outstanding musical performances to explosive dance moves throughout homecoming week, our Knights really put the pep in everybody’s steps! 

Get Up and Dress Up!:

With only 4 days to celebrate homecoming week, we began with cleverly crafted dress-up days, and boy, did your knights glam up and show out! Whether a teacher or a student, everyone had their own unique ideas as to what they were each dressing up as on dress-up day. We found everyone having a terrific time dressing to impress, but we couldn't get into the homecoming spirit ALL by ourselves, could we? Our crafty clubs put their imagination into overdrive and took us to paradise with their outstanding hallway decorations, where SpongeBob visited for a pre-jellyfish-catching snack or Lilo and Stitch were found stirring up some fun! 

Wednesday Parade and Community Pep Rally: 

Day two was in the books as Lee Trevinio Street began to fill with members of the Hanks community firing our parade up with lots of pride and cheer. We got to see 30+ floats of teams and clubs participate in bringing the Homecoming spirit all around; each with their own clever designs! The knights ignited the night sky with a spectacular fireworks display, along with soaring gymnastic stunts from our guys and gals on the gymnastics team. The Hanks Marching Band brought the school spirit with their cadences and the sensational dance moves from both our silhouettes and cheerleaders bringing the crowd a rush of excitement. Past and present Knights brought the HOCO vibes to Exchalibur Stadium.  

Thursday Pep Rally and then game time:

Thursday morning our music department turned the crowd rambunctious with their energy and enthusiasm. We started off strong as the angelic voices of our Homecoming King James McCormick and Queen Julieta Ng brought everyone to their feet with their rendition of the national anthem. They brought honor to the kingdom! As always our Silhouettes and Cheerleaders brought high flying acts to life in their poetic dance movements from hip hop to our spirit chants! Our very own Los Trovadores Mariachi Group and Troubadour choir excelled in bringing the autumn spirit to life with their smashing performance of “La Bruja” and “El Son De La Negra”. 

It's safe to say this pep rally was definitely an “Adventure of a Lifetime” and we’re not just saying that because the guitar band totally rocked the gymnasium! Your knights were loud and proud on both sets of bleachers morning and night. Football took the field ready to defend their title after taking down America’s last year during their homecoming game and your student section was off the chain! They weren't just hyped for the ball game but also for our outstanding marching band as they performed an exquisite piece of their competition performance during halftime, lifting up all our spirits. Even though our football team fell short, the kingdom's vibes were enough to keep pushing them forward, and the overall homecoming experience was that of true friendship and valour in our kingdom.

Friday Volleyball game:

Closing the week off strong we saw our Lady Knights Volleyball Team sweep Bel Air in the ultimate Friday win. Sarai Flores shares her thoughts and emotions coursing through her veins on game day: “In winning the homecoming game, it was one of the best feelings ever. Being a senior knowing I'll never get to experience playing in that one game again and it felt amazing  knowing my last one was a win! Having a huge student section there to support us and our band bringing our energy up, it was the best experience and feeling to play my game and especially winning it!” With our lady knights bringing home the win it was a wonderful way to wrap up homecoming week leading into our dance Saturday evening.

Conclusion:

Homecoming is expected to be the most exciting thing to kick your year off for times with friends forgetting all about the school part of school, but it's so much more than that. Besides the loudest pep rallies and crazy football Friday nights, you end up building bonds with your friends, which turn into memories with a new family. These experiences are what high school life is all about, and the 2025 Hanks HOCO was one to remember! 

September 12, 2025 - Homecoming may be over,  but let us all take a moment to show appreciation for the amazing  HOCO hallway designs this year! Themes such as SpongeBob, Lilo & Stitch, Moana, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc, truly helped make the kingdom more magical than ever. 

I think we can all agree that every hallway was very uniquely crafted, when people glanced throughout the entire kingdom, we were able to see that almost every wall was filled with an astounding amount of homecoming spirit.

Firstly, let's congratulate the Fashion team on winning with their wonderful and spectacular Tiki Bar hallway! They fully deserved their 1st place spotlight for their amazing work, students were amazed by the tropical starlit theme.

Most teams and clubs spent the toughest weekend working hard with full dedication and took their time on painting characters, crafting, filling the hallways with colorful artwork, and refining little details for every theme they chose

Fantastic job knights!

Students had a blast decorating the kingdom for homecoming!  Most can believe it was a really great opportunity to have everyone together, helping each other out as a team to make the traditional HOCO hallways possible. Let's hear from some of the people who participated in the hallway designs.

Here from our Interact Supervisor,  Ms. Moni, “Everyone did a great job and put a lot of hard work and detail into everything they have created.” Thank you, Ms. Moni! We appreciate your kind words!

Another source from a multitalented student, Arelhy Recio,  “I worked for the book club and Interact hallway. At first, the project seemed overwhelming, but once I was actually at the school, creating and using my artistic skills, the weight was lifted off of me, and I got into a creative, positive mood.” The hard work was surely worth it!

And finally, from the One and Only President of the winning Fashion team, Khalyssia Sago, “To me, the decorating of the hallway was more of an activity that made everyone on my team closer and it was a nice achievement for all the hard work put in by the people who helped our vision become a reality, especially since other hallways had great execution, but I’m glad everyone who walked down our hall got to see the creativity of all the Fashion team members.” Great job to you and your team Khalyssia!

You heard it Knights, we had yet another successful year decorating the hallways for Homecoming! We appreciate all of you knights for your hard work and dedication, it is surely memorable! Till next year!