Throughout all of Homecoming Week, various events have been taking place to help build hype for the Homecoming dance, from a spirit week for students to dress according to daily themes to the pep rally on Friday.
One of the smaller events during the action-packed week were the games led by Leadership students in the cafeteria during lunch.
Ranging from a pie eating contest to a karaoke session, the games varied day by day, usually inviting students from the different grade levels to compete in the activities.
“We have a big discussion in class where we all throw out ideas for games, and then we vote on them,” Leadership student Lily Flint said.
The games have been a longstanding tradition at McLean, which the Leadership class has been sure to uphold whenever Homecoming approaches.
“I’ve been the Leadership teacher here for five years, and I think it started even before I was the Leadership teacher,” Karen McNamara said. “We just brought it back as something kids always love doing.”
The games tend to be student-run, meaning that Leadership students get to have some creative freedom with how the games are played and how they bring the energy to each lunch block.
“I gave them a few ideas and there are some guidelines… but other than that, they get to try to come up with whatever they’d like,” McNamara said.
School spirit isn’t the only incentive students have to participate in the games — students who play the games usually earn prizes as well.
The games help teachers get pumped about Homecoming as well, especially since it’ll be the first big school event since the pandemic started.
“Seeing all the students [playing the games] was an awesome sight,” said geosystems teacher Dylan Persinger, who’s in his first full year of in-person teaching at McLean. “It kind of helps me remember, ‘Oh, school spirit is really alive and well at McLean.’”
With the Homecoming dance Saturday, October 2nd, the lunch games throughout the week helped build up hype and energy for the weekend by giving students a less time-intensive opportunity to show their school spirit.
“It’s great seeing other people being able to have that experience and be able to have that same level of fun and excitement in high school that [teachers] had,” Persinger said.