Beaver Area students participated in the annual Homecoming Spirit Week beginning October 2 with themes like jersey day, country vs. country club, Barbie day, decades day, and finally the classic maroon and gray day.

Spirit week was planned by the Student Council.

This spirit week kick-started homecoming with extra school spirit and an excitement for the dance and football game October 6.

The Friday of homecoming quickly rolled around but all Bobcat students woke up to rain.

This inclement weather meant that the outdoor pep assembly that was scheduled for the end of Friday’s school day was canceled and moved to the next Friday, October 13.

The weather also brought questions of whether the Homecoming game would get rained out or if the rain would stay for the dance.

All of these thoughts and anxieties were silenced when the weather cleared up Friday afternoon and left chilly yet sunny skies for both the game and dance.

The Bobcat football game ended in a close loss (check the football story in the ECHO for more details).

Despite the loss, all thoughts quickly turned to a night of fun, dancing, and dressing up at the dance.

The dance was from 6:30-9 p.m., which was notably much shorter than past years, but nonetheless students seemed to have a fun time.

There were over 370 tickets sold for the Homecoming dance.

This year the dance was sponsored by the freshman class officers and freshman class sponsor Ms. Rachel Zahn.

The dance began in the cafeteria where students were fed pizza, chips, and ice cream.

The pizza was provided by Pizza Joes.

Once everyone socialized and was fed, most people moved into the gym to dance and have fun with friends.

“I liked the food; the food was wonderful, like the ice cream with sprinkles. The music was stupid, but I didn’t expect better because it’s still a school dance,” said junior Lincoln Christensen.

As per usual, Miss Beth Spence and the yearbook staff were there taking photos for those who wanted them.

Overall, Homecoming was seen to be a fun time for most, but of course like any student event there were mixed reviews.

In an ECHO survey, 54 people responded with their opinions on the Homecoming festivities.

The survey included four questions asking students to rank aspects of homecoming on a scale of one to five: one being “terrible”, two being “meh”, three being “good”, four being “great”, and five was “the best one yet.”

The first question asked about how Homecoming was as a whole, and 40% of the students answered a number two or “meh.”

The second question asked about homecoming music and this question had the biggest margin of a win for all the questions with 51% of students also answering number two.

Sophomore Aleena Shoenberger explained, “I really like it [the dance] as a whole and really liked how this year there was a QR code to request songs.”

The third question asked about the food at the dance, which had mostly positive reviews, and 43% of students answered a number three of “good.”

Finally, the fourth question asked about the spirit week leading up to the dance. This question had the most diverse yet positive response with 34% of students answering that spirit week was “great” or a number four.