Watching students anxiously waiting for a week to remember, Jenna Sandstead knew it was time to begin, although it was only spring they were starting to plan for homecoming. Gathered into groups for decorations, events, and theme days, ASB was ready to make Hollywood Knights a time to remember. Returning to school in the fall they thought the plans were set. However, at their first meeting, Sandstead told the members of ASB that all the theme days they planned out had to be changed.
“Everyone was disappointed for sure,” Sandstead explained “we love that ASB is a place where students can have a say and have a voice on what things we do school-wide… because those were all student-picked, we felt bad that we had to make revisions.”
Last spring ASB announced details for this year’s homecoming, Hollywood Knights. In this announcement they revealed this year’s theme days for Spirit Week. However, it wasn’t till this fall that the themes that they had previously announced had been changed almost completely, other than the yearly Color Wars, Big Blue Friday, and togas for the seniors.
After the original homecoming themed days were announced Frank Mirandola, Associate Principal for Activities and Operations, noticed something. He realized multiple of the days were based on characterized stereotypes. Mirandola didn’t believe that these themes enhanced the larger goals at Prospect, which was one of his objectives for the week. He and the rest of the administrative team had a meeting to voice their concerns about those themed days.
“[We wanted to] enhance school spirit, [have] a fun week, but … also be consistent with…supporting every Knight throughout the week as well.”
Along with ideas of stereotypes being an issue, safety was also a primary concern. It was previously announced that Tuesday of Spirit Week would be Anything but a Backpack Day. At other schools, people had brought kayaks, laundry baskets, and even their younger siblings. Sandstead explained that she understood the difficulties of anything but a backpack day. She specifically understood the difficulty that would be sharing the guidelines of what the students could and could not bring.
Ultimately Sandstead and the rest of ASB worked with Mirandolas requests to make a fun week that all Knights could enjoy. Monday is now Lazy Day, Tuesday is Jersey Day and Togas (for the seniors), Wednesday is Color Wars, Thursday is Tropical vs. Denim, and Friday is, of course, Big Blue Friday!
“The guiding principle of any sort of changes or shifts to themes was to make sure that the homecoming week was truly inclusive of all students,” Mirandola shared “and [we wanted] to make sure that every knight felt valued and respected… but also have the opportunity to really celebrate Prospect in a safe and fun week.”
