Students said the Prosper High Eagle spirit flew into full flight during homecoming week, Sept. 22-26, as students from different groups – including orchestra, student council and more – and their teachers did their part to make the the traditional parade a reality.
In the days leading up to the event, these student groups assembled their floats, painted posters, and helped adorn the campus with homecoming-themed decorations. For those in orchestra, the parade gets bolded red in the class calendar every year. It’s a tradition that bonds the different class periods together.
“The HOCO posters play a huge role in bringing the PHS orchestras together,” co-president, senior Adithri Raghuram said. “Usually, students across the (orchestra) classes have minimal opportunities to interact, but by allowing anyone in the orchestra program sign up, we bring them together. I saw people introducing each other and splitting the project to work off of each other’s strength.”
This year, the orchestra council decided to add a twist to the posters that each instrument section will hold out as they walk through the parade.
“Our theme mainly is HOCO pickup lines that people make for posters if they want to ask their date out,” Co-president and senior Noah Shekhman said. “We just like do pickup lines a little bit on the cringy side, but we still want to make sure it stands out (and) it gets people’s attention.”
As orchestra created their posters, Student Council (STUCO) decorated the entire school with giant mums and clusters of balloons.
“To prepare for HOCO, Student Council put up balloons and came in on Saturday with theater to help decorate,” STUCO vice president Sreenithi Babu Meiyappan. “Thank you to everyone who came, we had so much fun!”
Decoration is only a part of the preparation for the parade. Students were asked to bring bags of candy so they could hand it out to elementary students and their families along the route.
“We threw a lot of candy,” junior Duke Zachary Thompson said. “But we eventually ran out like three-fourths (of the way through). But, it was still a lot of fun. I loved seeing the kids and seeing the town.”
Thompson learned he received the position of the junior Duke when results were announced Sept. 6 on the Student Council’s official Instagram account. The HOCO court gets their own float in the parade where they are specially recognized.
“I got a lot of (my) following from last year,” Thompson said. “And, I kind of just posted a lot on social media and stuff.”
Junior Duchess Megan Hart expected to share a similar experience in the parade with Thompson.
“I like seeing all the town and the kids,” Hart said. “They’re really cute, and I like throwing candy at them even though we ran out.”
