By Ryan Kupperman, executive news editor
    With the decline of school spirit between first and second semester, student council and the four class boards have decided to host a new dance with its own spirit week relating to the end of Prospect’s basketball season: Hoopscoming.
    The week of Hoopscoming will take place Jan. 22-26. The actual dance will take place Friday the 26, after double header basketball games, in gyms one and two from about nine to 11. The dance is themed “Ice fever”, in relation to disco fever, and will include a DJ and an indoor ice rink. According to Lyn Scolaro, Student Council Advisor and member of Illinois Directors of Student Activities, although students are not allowed to bring their own ice skates, there will be roughly 65 pairs provided plus a rotation system to allow everyone a chance to skate.
    In addition to the dance, student council and the four class boards would like everyone to dress up relating to a certain theme each day leading up to the dance. Monday the 22 is Scarf day, Tuesday the 23 is Meme day, Wednesday the 24 is Wacky day, Thursday the 25 is Wig day, and Friday the 26 is Winter Sports day.
    According to Frank Mirandola, Assistant Principal of Student Activities, there will be no fundraiser for Hoopscoming but it is still a school sponsored event in that students will not have to pay in order to attend. However, everyone is required to show their school IDs to enter the dance. Mirandola calls Hoopscoming “a wash” where the school can make money in some areas in order to spend it in others, such as fun social gatherings.
    “Ultimately it’s about creating dynamic experiences for our student body,” Mirandola said.
    Both Mirandola and Scolaro point out the decline of school spirit since the new school schedule. Dances such as the Winter Ball and Turnabout, which both ended a few years ago, used to pump up students for winter break. With the schedule change, students go straight into finals at the end of first semester. This causes a severe drop in school spirit when students come back from winter break into second semester. Scolaro says this dynamic can be seen throughout many schools in the area, not just Prospect. Hoopscoming is a possible solution to boosting school spirit and mental morale going into second semester.
    “Prospect’s student body has kind of made a name for itself over the past four or five years, about doing things a little differently than everyone else,” Mirandola said. “And I think this (Hoopscoming) is kind of a continuation of that innovative spirit.”