The quintessential commencement event of a new school year revolves around homecoming. The annual pep rally, the buzz for upcoming sporting events, and the senior class’ Haunted House all get the new year at PMHS in gear. However, the beginning of the 2020-21 school year has been far from typical, with revised versions of these annual events. The sporting events must be played with no student crowd, the senior class has replaced the traditional Haunted House with  a socially-distanced Haunted Trail, and homecoming has been altered to be a two-week, hybrid event. Reorganized by the PMHS Student-Association, Homecoming will be held in November instead of early-September. From November 2 to November 13 homecoming will commence with spirit week dress-up days spanning across those two weeks. The dress-up themes will include movie day, formal dress day, western day, and pelican pride day. Then, a culminating virtual pep rally will be held on November 13 which will feature all varsity sports teams.

Ms. Rice, the president of the Student-Association, worked with student collaborators in the SA to organize this year’s Homecoming event.

“Our goal is to have a common experience across the student body so that we can feel more united. With all of the new health guidelines it is hard to have the students truly ‘come together.’ We hope this event will provide a fun break for students and teachers,” Ms. Rice said. 

Past homecomings included an in-person pep rally during school for all PMHS students with a varsity football game later that evening.

Now that there is a precedent, will there be a similar “Virtual Homecoming” for the Spring season in 2021? Ms. Rice thinks that’s a possibility.

“If it is successful and popular with the students, I think the SA would absolutely consider doing something in the spring, but we would probably make some changes so that it feels different,” Ms. Rice said. 

The Student-Association has been working extremely hard so far this year to fulfill the typical traditions at PMHS and to allow the student body to participate in a variety of activities. The virtual pep rally took many steps of planning and organizing to get as many students involved as possible. Depending on the state of the health-risks in the spring, the prospect of another form of a pep rally would be an exciting event to look forward to, in-person or virtual for PMHS students. The pep rally will be played for all students during their ninth period class by their teacher on November 13. These are just the initial strides by the SA to create a fun and inclusive culture throughout this unprecedented school year.