By Heather Mullinix / hmullinix@crossville-chronicle.com
I think I'm coming down with a case of school spirit.
This week, we've had our first cool snap, and folks have been digging through closets for sweaters and jackets to bundle up against temperatures that dipped into the 30s.
It's also the second straight football homecoming week for our local students.
Football and fall go hand in hand. And when homecoming rolls around, it takes me back to my own high school days.
For that one week in high school, each class would come together to beat out the other three for the top honor — the Spirit Stick. We all became more secretive than the CIA, with windows to shops covered and class members vowing not to speak of the float design to outsiders.
We'd start on Monday, with everyone dressing up for the theme of the day — which could be anything from 1950s poodle skirts and leather jackets to the grunge wear so popular in the mid-90s, all capped with a purple and gold explosion on Friday.
There would be contests decorating classroom doors, hallways and businesses around town.
But the biggest project of all was the float building competition.
The parade was always held Friday afternoon, with school dismissed at 11 a.m. Elementary schools would also close and businesses would lock up for the time it took the band to lead the many floats and truck loads of students down Main Street.
Those floats took hours upon hours to build. The theme would be announced the week before, and ideas would begin forming. By the Monday, the first day shops were opened and students were allowed to begin work, there would be a rough idea of what the float would look like.
My first year, it was the 500th anniversary of Columbus sailing the ocean blue, and the theme was an exploration theme.
Drawing on the talents of our class sponsors, who could build just about anything, the frame of a ship was constructed and chicken wire attached. Then the tedious work began of stuffing each of those holes in the chicken wire with just the right amount of newspaper. The whole time, we were all saying a silent prayer — please, don't let it rain on Friday! Rain and newspaper floats don't mix so well.
Another year, we wanted to have the effect of smoke rising from a cauldron. We dug into our class funds and purchased some dry ice. Wouldn't you know, it rained and rained and rained. And our expensive effect was ruined.
Then there was the year everything used on the float needed to be recycled. We built a goal post out of aluminum cans. I'm not sure what the drinks were, just that the cans came in purple and gold. I drank more grape soda that week then I ever thought possible. The entire class just about went into sugar shock.
My sister, ever the resourceful one, made a paper maché dragon claw for her class float one year. She forgot to mention to my parents she was going to use one of my dad's combat boots as the form. Luckily, her class won the float competition, she was able to salvage the boot and avoided a stern lecture on "borrowing" things that aren't hers without asking. It was a pretty awesome dragon claw.
Thursday, regardless of the weather, everyone put aside the competition and met in the field by the school for the bonfire. It was hot, crowded, loud and so much fun! We'd cheer, the band would play, we'd declare our team the best team ever to take the field, and we'd join together and sing the Alma Mater.
Come Friday night, we may have won, we may have lost, but everyone was caught up with school spirit. That week brought so many students together — wether we were the athletes, musicians, artists, school leaders or just students looking to "belong." For that week, if no other time, we all got to feel we were a vital part of the school community.
That's what I like most about homecoming. I like to see the evidence of the work students have put into their projects. I like to see them cheering as loud as they can, psyching their team up for a good game.
I like to see the community come together and say to these young people, "We support you!"
It's also about coming home.
I didn't attend school in Cumberland County, but I've chosen this community for my home. I recently moved back to the Crossville area, and I'm so happy to be here. I may not have grown up here, but this is where I became a "grown up." Moving back was like coming home.
And, I'm seriously considering trading in my Purple and Gold from some Columbia Blue and Gold and Black and Gold attire.
