It’s the start of a new school year, new people, new Homecoming royalty, and new rules. This year, Homecoming rules are a little different than previous years. Previously, the student body would nominate their class royalty by writing in their names and then, through the democratic process, the nominees would be narrowed down to the top three options. Then, whomever received the most votes would be elected class royalty. However, this gave students the opportunity to produce “bully-nominations.”

Bully nominations can be defined as a group of students who decide, as a critical mass, to elect someone for Homecoming out of a joke.

Ms. Hedwall, and Ms. Rohweller-Kocur, have spent many years orchestrating the Homecoming season, ensuring fun traditions, and really highlighting the school spirit. This means ensuring a safe, and respectful atmosphere which had been violated in years past.

I interviewed the two faculty members on their goals and plans for Homecoming this year, and how it might differ from the past. The two reflected on an incident when they noticed an individual who was nominated every year of his high school career. Every year, this student’s name would be called, and the group of students “tipped over laughing” as Ms. Rohweller-Kocur reflected.

Once a year, at least one student gets through as a bully nominee, usually an underclassmen. Despite administration and faculty efforts to prevent bully nominations, Ms. hedwall reports, “There isn’t a mechanism to catch underclassmen [bully] nominees.” Now, this isn’t to say underclassmen shouldn’t get excited about Homecoming, and having the opportunity to be elected class royalty.

To put your name out in the student mass as a Homecoming nominee, there are a few steps that have to be taken first. This year, instead of just saying “vote for me” on twitter and in your classrooms, you have to explain why.

In front of Ms. Rohweller-Kocur’s room, 3211, there is a “HOMECOMING 2016 ROYALTY NOMINATION FORM.” On the new sheet it explains that you must “[S]elf-nominate to ensure that those nominated want to be a part of the ceremony and that they embody the positive qualities valued by Highland Park Senior High School.” You and one other person, who also wants to run, must write a 150 to 200 word response to the question, “Why do you believe that you are an excellent representative of not only your class, but also of Highland Park Senior High?” The form was due Friday, September 19, 2016 at 2 pm.

The nominated Homecoming royalty will be announced at the Pep Fest on Friday, September 30th.

Becoming a Freshman at a new school can be exciting, frightening, and new to most. Link Leaders are here to make it easier for the Freshmen to find classes and feel welcome at Highland, but do they really? We wanted to see how Freshmen really felt during their first couple of weeks at Highland by surveying a class of thirty-four students.   

We developed nine questions, to ask Freshmen, to cover a wide range of things that they experienced during their first week here. We asked the students the following questions:

• Our first question was about about the school itself, we asked them what their favorite part of Highland was. Their answer could be about the environment, the people, the classes, or even some of the clubs or activities.
• The second and third questions asked about Link Crew events, and the Link Crew leaders themselves.
• The fourth and fifth questions were about whether or not students were going to school events, and or if they joined any sports or clubs.
• The sixth question asked what the students were expecting, and whether or not the school is close to their expectation.
• The seventh question asked about which class was their favorite.
• The eighth was about if they felt welcome at Highland.
• The last question asked how they felt about their first week overall.   

The Link Crew leaders made a presence to the Freshmen. A lot of the Freshmen saw their Link Crew leaders and maybe said, “Hi” if they needed help with something. The Link Crew did their job and helped out the Freshman which is good to hear.

With Link Crew comes Link Crew events, almost every Freshman attended the events of Freshmen Fun Night and Shananalympics. Even though the Link Crew events were a hit, the Friday night football game was a not with most of the Freshmen because about 68 percent decided not to go.

Many sports and clubs are available to incoming Freshmen, ranging from soccer to science . We asked if they had joined any clubs or sports and most had. Freshmen in our survey joined a wide variety of clubs which included: cross country, football, dance, tennis, and robotics. A common answer was “not yet” so we’re expecting more Freshmen to join clubs in the latter part of the year.

The second part of the survey was more about the Freshman experience with the the school and its environment. Right off of the bat we asked the students what their favorite part of Highland was. Although it would be hard to list all thirty-four students responses, here are some of the best and most interesting:

• Lots of students liked seeing their friends and meeting new ones, many Freshmen thought the teachers use the class time wisely which is nice.
• The athletic program seems to be enjoyable for a lot of Freshmen especially for the football players.
• People seem to think that Highland is a comfortable environment to learn. Link Crew leaders contribute to this feeling with their events that they run for the Freshmen.
• Freshmen seem to think that a lot of the students here are nice and treat one another with respect.

We asked them what they thought of the first week overall, and most students said that they had enjoyed it, liked their teachers, and felt welcome.

Being a Freshman is a challenge at first, but from the responses we got Highland seems to make it an easier experience.