Homecoming is a week full of fun and festivities for Pekin Community High School (PCHS) students. This year’s homecoming week was from September 30th through October 5th. The week was filled with many fun memories that students will take with them after high school. 

Each day of the week had a theme: on Monday students and staff wore black, silver, and gold, Tuesday everyone dressed as tourists, Wednesday each class wore their class color, Thursday was Olympic Sports Day, and on Friday PCHS showed their school spirit by wearing red and black. 

Wednesday night, PCHS held powderpuff games. This is where female students can sign up and play flag football. The teams are divided up by class and this year the seniors won first place, freshmen got second, sophomores in third, and juniors placed last. 

On Friday, there was a pep rally where each class competed against each other. The games consisted of name that tune, relay races, come on down, and dodgeball. At the end of the pep rally, the class points were added up and Freshman took first place with 49 points. 

Later on that day, the town attended the homecoming parade. The parade started at 5:30 pm and included many groups. Some participants were the Homecoming court, PCHS clubs and sports, and grade school teams. 

Maddy Karnes, a Junior at PCHS and a part of the homecoming court states, “[the parade] was really fun because as we were driving through I saw a lot of my family and friends cheering for me. Little kids like to wave at our jeep so it was sweet waving back to them. I got to do it alongside my boyfriend so that made my time even more special.”

After the parade, everyone headed to the homecoming football game against Metamora. The game was tough and the score was back and forth. However, by the end of the night, Pekin won with a final score of 42 to 35. 

Hunter Lamberson, a senior captain of the football team exclaims, “It was a huge win for the team and felt great especially since it was the homecoming game. What made it even better was that we seniors were able to come out with a win for our last homecoming.”

The final part of the week was the actual Homecoming dance, which took place on Saturday. This year’s theme was “A Night in Paris.” This year’s homecoming Queen and King were seniors, Gaby Peyton, and Gabe Schwermin.

Peyton states, “I thought homecoming was really fun and was definitely the best one to end with! it was really fun to experience being homecoming queen this year, with all the events it’s something I will always remember!”

The excitement-filled homecoming week is just one way to bring all PCHS students together and celebrate. This week is when the true spirit of being a dragon shows.