Homecoming 2025 was unlike any other, the school spirit and competitiveness outweighed all previous years. The different school contests this year were extremely competitive, with seniors taking first place overall. The winners of the float and fence competition were the sophomores, and the seniors took first place for dress up days and in the lunch games.
Dress up days were very out of the ordinary this year, with the themes of: PJ day, dress like Adam Sandler, wear your class color (Freshmen: red, Sophomores: pink, Juniors: purple, Seniors: black), twin day, and lastly black and gold. The Homecoming parade was also exciting this year, with all sports and school extracurriculars getting involved and making floats. The Freshmen had a theme of “You Can’t Dock a Storm,” Sophomores were “Walk the Plank, Oredockers,” Juniors were “Rock the Dock,” and the Seniors finished it out with “You Can’t Handle the Storm.”
The 2025 school spirit was spread throughout all the different schools during the pep rallies. Our high school Banner Choir consisting of Liesel Kuehl, JayLeiya St. Germaine, Evan Poquette, Abby Carson, Lainey Horsman, Maddie Paquin, and Adalynn Hanson travelled to each school to sing the national anthem and start off the pep rally. The 2025 fall sports captains also travelled with them. Colby Sprenger and Grace Schmidt, two of the varsity volleyball captains, both said it was exciting to see all of the younger kids have so much fun with the highschoolers. Colby said, “…they contributed greatly to the overall school spirit.”
Preston Sullivan, a varsity football captain, said that it was very cool to see how excited the younger kids get when being around people they look up to. What he enjoyed most about the pep rallies was, “… when John Peterson would say ‘67’ to the younger kids and they would all do the hand motions and yell it back.”
Another Homecoming staple in Hayward is Powderpuff flag football. The girls spent hours practicing and creating their own plays, assigning positions, and perfecting their game with a few football players from their class to help them to succeed. This year the seniors came out on top, followed by the juniors, then freshmen, and lastly sophomores. More sports events that occurred during homecoming week were the soccer and football games. The soccer boys had an outstanding homecoming win against the Ashland Oredockers with an overall score of 9-1! The homecoming football game against Ashland was unlike any other as well. The student section was bigger than other games, cheering on the Canes after every point or mistake, and rooting for them the entire time. Although they suffered a devastating defeat of 36-44, they fought for the win every second.
What would Homecoming be without the Hoco Court? Every year, each class nominates two individuals to represent their class, this year the freshmen nominated were Kaydence Poplin and Locklan Sheehan, sophomores were Abby Carson and William Johnson, and the juniors were Danika Kortendick and Rocco Goold. The seniors nominate eight individuals who then pair up for the procession. The senior pairs were: Charley Christian and Eric Fish, Liesel Keuhl and Jacob Schuck, Emma Blinkwolt and Viktor Enk, and the Queen and King were Makenna Hutchison and Lucas Hansen. These individuals were announced at the pep rally, introduced at the football game, and also celebrated at the Homecoming dance on Saturday night. In addition to this, each coupling of representatives had their own truck to ride in during the parade.
The dance was also very upbeat, loud and full of energy. Everyone participated whether it was singing or dancing, and had a great time. Homecoming 2025 was one to remember!
