Sophmore Ella Illsley using a toy car as a backpack for “anything but a backpack” day.

Homecoming week at Air Academy High School (AAHS) is one of the most anticipated events of the year. Many students show their love for the school by dressing up for spirit days, engaging in the powder puff game, cheering for the football team at the homecoming game, and even attending the homecoming dance. 

To promote school spirit, the student council set up multiple different themed dress-up days for the whole week. This included anything but a backpack day, Barbie vs. Ken, class color day, dynamic duo, and finally white-out for the pep-rally assembly and football game. 

So why is participating in these spirit days necessary? 

“School is about having fun, and it’s important to have some school spirit and have something to look forward to,” president of the junior class, Liza Clark, exclaimed.

Last Wednesday, students got involved in another homecoming tradition: the powderpuff game. In this event, junior and senior girls participate in a football game while the cheerleaders for this game are the junior and senior boys. Although this game is played by upperclassmen, it gets attendees from all grades, as well as their families.

With so much excitement around the game, it got everyone in high spirits early in the week and brought the whole school closer together. The best thing about this activity is that it is a fundraiser so the profits go towards AAHS every year.

The event that goes hand-in-hand with the homecoming football game is the homecoming dance. Having a high school dance is useful because it can get people who aren’t invested in sports excited as well.

A homecoming game is generally regarded as the biggest game of the year as so many people show up to support the school. 

The name homecoming refers to the tradition “for past students to come back and hang out at college or their high school,” football coach Brad Vollmar shared. 

He noted that ex-students and star football players such as Sam Beers and Collin Dougherty made an appearance at the game. As well as special guests coming to watch, the football team is competing against notable competition. 

“We really like to play Cheyenne Mountain and we like to defeat Cheyenne Mountain. It’s kind of our rival,” Vollmar mentioned.

The football team themselves had a lot of anticipation and excitement for this event. 

“Having the whole school having something to rally behind, and you know, kind of being at the head of it is a really important thing,” senior, football player, Andrew Inghram stated.

Even though the center of homecoming week is the football team, school spirit can be for anything at AAHS. 

“You just find some kind of team or something in Air Academy to cheer for, and if you can’t find something you make something of your own to cheer for,” Inghram suggested. 

 School spirit can also be present all-year round, which students can often forget.

 “Sometimes we do games during the week,” Clark noted. 

Participating in school spirit at any point in the school year can provide special memories of high school to students. AAHS students participated in several school-wide bonding activities during the week to celebrate the football team’s homecoming game. These activities included spirit days, a homecoming dance, and powder puff. As a result, there was a boost in school-wide spirit.