Submitted by Dr. Brian Ellis
Homecoming always means a great week of YS Proud spirit! York Suburban High School has many traditions beginning the weekend prior to Homecoming and culminating with a dance on Saturday evening. This year’s Homecoming theme was the fittingly the Olympics. Interestingly, the Olympic rings match our various class colors and each class decorated hallways in their respective yellow, blue, green, and black. The senior class decorated the center hallway with scenes from Africa including elephants and pyramids, and created a gold medal with the name of every member of Class of 2017. The week also included spirit days for the student body such as: wear red, white, and blue, dress like a tourist, dress as your favorite athlete, and wear class colors. We ended the week with our traditional spirit attire: ORANGE AND BLACK!
Student Council organized the traditional Thursday night homecoming activities, beginning with Powder Puff Football games matching the classes and culminating with a game between the student champion junior team and the YSSD faculty team. The final game went to overtime but ultimately, the faculty team prevailed! Tucked in between, thousands of YS students and families turned out for the annual parade and packed “the hill” for what many called the “biggest bonfire” in YS history. Students from kindergarten through 12th grade came together to share their YS Pride and do the Trojan Rumble!
On Friday, the YSHS student body came together for the annual Homecoming Pep Rally. Students heard from Dr. Ellis who shared all the great exploits of our marching band and fall sports teams, the cheerleaders who led the student body in many cheers, and the football captains who not only psyched up the crowd but also praised their classmates for being the greatest cheering section in York County. But the highlight of the pep rally occurred when Ayden Ziegler, a fourth grader from East York Elementary battling cancer, escorted homecoming court member Georgia DuMars to her seat. The entire high school student body stood up to cheer and applaud with four fingers raised to celebrate this courageous young man. Ayden brought the crowd to their feet again when he was asked to say a few words. He simply said, “Beat Kennard-Dale”.
The football team honored Ayden’s request Friday evening with a 42-6 win over Kennard-Dale. The homecoming festivities wrapped up on Saturday evening with the annual Homecoming Dance in the Gymnasium, with more than 500 YSHS students and guests enjoying an evening of dancing and sharing memories from a great Homecoming Week. Homecoming Week at York Suburban is one of the most spirited weeks of the year and Homecoming 2016 exemplified that yet again. The entire York Suburban community, from preschoolers to alumni and parents, came together to celebrate the unique and special place that is YS.
