The Student Council is working to make an engaging and enjoyable experience for students in hopes to boost pony pride for Homecoming week. The Homecoming dance and the following week leading up to the Homecoming football game occupies the Student Council’s time, as a large and happy turnout would mark their first event this year as a success.

Students can expect the Vickey Weiss photography booth at the dance as well as a music queue curated by students themselves. The events of Homecoming are split up and divided among different committees within the Student Council in order to cast as wide of a net of ideas as possible. The focus of planning Homecoming is to give freedom to students to plan events and to excite the larger student body.

All of the Homecoming is planned by the students for the majority of the time. The advisors are there to keep students on track and make sure they follow guidelines and plan appropriate events.

“I kind of step in if it’s inappropriate, or, you know, the administration can be like, ‘no,’ but then I’ll let [members of the Student Council] know. But otherwise, I try to let them have some success and some ownership of it,” Dusty Dennis, special-ed teacher, and Student Council advisor said.

The basic principles behind how Homecoming is planned are changing from the way it was done in year’s past. The Student Council is trying something new to try to invigorate students and create an event that students want to go to. Their end goal is to increase the total student turnout.

“We’re trying to find a way to make a difference, to reengage the student body again, to make them feel like, ‘Oh yeah, I actually want to go catch that and see what it’s about,'” Dennis said.

The Student Council uses student input to decide what will be kept, and what will be abandoned when they plan their next event. It makes it easier for them to make the experience a memorable and fun one.

“People come up to me, or other Student Council members,” junior Elise Riniker explained. “And say, ‘Oh I didn’t like this,’ or, ‘Oh, I really liked that, that was fun,’ and then we take that into account.”

There is a lot of responsibility and care put into events the Student Council plans. It is meant to be a project that they will be proud of once they have completed it.

“It does carry a bit of importance [to me]… it’s my senior year and I’m running the show. It kind of hasn’t really hit me hard yet but it’s getting there,” Nikhil Kumaran, senior and Student Council President said.

Money gained through the sale of tickets to both the game and the dance eases the fundraising necessary for events planned throughout the year. It also goes directly back to the school and the students to purchase extra commodities that inform students and simplify the way students learn about events that are coming up.

“We paid for the big video screens for the students,” Dennis said, “so the students can see what’s going on.”

The most important part for the Student Council is that an impression is made on as many students as possible. All aspects of what Student Council does are done to instill school spirit in the students.

“To me,” Dennis explained, “it’s did we make an impact on the student body? Did the student body get some pony pride that week?”