By Sydney Bartels
Silver Lake’s 2023 Homecoming was one for the books. From the classes competing to see which class could decorate their hallway the best to each student competing for best-dressed; from the volleyball sweep at Harvard to the exciting football game against Deshler; from the pep rally Friday afternoon to the dance Friday night, students at Silver Lake had a Homecoming week to remember. Even the elementary students got involved in the week’s festivities. They dressed up in the following categories: Pajama Day on Monday, Cowgirl vs. Cowboy on Tuesday, Twin Day on Wednesday, Color War on Thursday, and Spirit Day on Friday. Setting the tone for Homecoming, students in grades 7-12 decorated their designated hallways/rooms with their personally chosen themes the Friday before. The Senior class turned the Commons Area into a disco party, while the Junior class fancied up their hallway with their Hollywood red carpet and movie posters. The sophomore class decked out their hallway with everything harvest-themed, from hay bales to cornstalks and everything in between. The freshman hallway screamed Pac-man from their colored lights to their Pac-man themed posters. The Jr. High students made their hallway into a tropical resort with their aquatic animal cut-outs and their totem poles. To kick off the week on Monday, Junior High and High School students and staff cozied up at school for Pajama Day. Seniors took part of the day to spread school spirit by decorating posters and hanging them up around the four communities. Wrapping up the day and moving on to Tuesday, students and staff dressed up as their favorite music genre. The Lady Mustang Volleyball Team traveled to Harvard Tuesday night to bring home two wins against Harvard and Wilcox-Hildreth. On Wednesday, students and staff participated in the festivities by “Rhyming Without Reason.” Everyone got into pairs or small groups and chose outfits that rhymed for no apparent reason. For example, aquatic & patriotic, or Post Malone & traffic cone. Keeping the fun going into Thursday, everyone decked out in their designated color for color wars: Seniors: black, Juniors: white, Sophomores: blue, Freshmen: red, 8th grade: orange, 7th grade: green, and staff: pink. Friday was highly anticipated, with the pep rally, the football game, and then finally, the dance. Friday’s dress-up day was “Spirit Day” so everyone put on their best Silver Lake attire. Friday afternoon, students and staff from both the High School and the Elementary gathered in the gym for the pep rally. From the dance team and band performing to the Homecoming Court introductions and relay race to the final game of Hungry Hungry Hippos and the class chants, the pep rally was definitely one for the books. Everyone was pumped up for the game to follow that night. Junior Addison Schmidt shared that she thought the pep rally was really well organized with lots of fun games to get the whole crowd engaged. She loved the candidate game, saying, “It was hilarious. Even the elementary students were laughing and having a good time.” The football game was an exciting one, with the Mustang Men bringing home the win with a final score of 49-12. Immediately after the game was the Homecoming Court introductions and the crowing of the Homecoming King and Queen. Your Silver Lake Homecoming Court was Sydney Bartels & Manuel Fontes, Morgan Dinkler & Adrian Gomez, Taylor Hanson & Keaton Karr, and Lana Swanson & Trey Vance. Swanson was crowned Homecoming Queen, and Karr was crowned King. After the necessary pictures and congratulations, everyone headed to the dance floor to finish out the night in the best way: singing and dancing with friends. The dance concluded at midnight, with everyone headed home tired but happy.