Credit to Izzy Lash

FHN Student council preps for the pep assembly by painting signs for all of the fall sports teams.

As the first semester comes to a close, the thing most people at Francis Howell North are looking forward to is the annual homecoming dance on Oct. 7. With this year being the last year in the old building, it’s a bittersweet feeling for teachers and students alike. FHN student council is going all out this last year with a Hollywood-themed dance and spirit week.

“I’m really excited, a little, like, melancholy too, but I’m excited for it to be our last one,” Rowan Pugh, a Student Council sponsor said. “I think we’re really trying to go big in this building for the last one here. Before we move to the new school because we don’t really know what the setup in the new building is gonna be like, we don’t know where we’re gonna hold the dance yet or any of those things. So right now, it’s, like, refreshing for us to know what to expect and be able to just make it really big.”

There are going to be a few new features this year, including a 360 photo booth, a red carpet, and movie theater-themed snacks. Throughout the night, there will be a running film with photos and short videos of students around the school, plus a 20-foot-long Hollywood sign.

“The theme is really fun,” Rachel Pirrone, a Student Council sponsor said. ”The decorations go really well with the theme, there’s gonna be really cool decorations, there’s gonna be good food. I hope to have as good or better of the turnout as we did last year, just because I think the more students that are there, the more people that are getting involved, the more fun it can be.” 

Even though Student Council was worried about hosting both the FHN Alumni event and the Homecoming dance on the same day, they have worked vigorously to prepare accordingly. Volunteers from many clubs are lending their support for the Alumni event and every Student Council committee has been putting in the work to make sure that both events run as smoothly as possible.

“I think just with every year you hope everything goes off the way you planned it,” Pirrone said. “Typically speaking, just with life, things don’t necessarily go as planned. I’m just hoping whatever problem arises is small and minor and that we can easily come up with a solution on the spot for it.”

“I don’t know that I’m worried about anything,” Pugh said. “I think we have two really large, very cool events going on in the same day. Which is the alumni, the alumni event and then homecoming. I’m so excited for both.”

Both students and teachers are determined to make it the best homecoming they can. 

“I really think that this homecoming is going to be really good,” Student Council Homecoming President Sophia McClure said. “It’s the last one before we go to the new school. We’re kind of like going all out. I just think it’s gonna be a really good homecoming.”