In Brief
Vol. 6, No. 1 September 2012
A publication for members of the Alliance for Student Activities
Incorporating Service into Homecoming w By Lyn Fiscus Homecoming spirit week is typically a huge extravaganza that involves many people in a variety of activities designed to raise school spirit. In recent years, some schools have questioned the excesses of Homecoming and have turned to incorporating service into the week. Especially in these tough economic times, rallying everyone around a good cause as part of your Homecoming activities can build support for the school and put some purpose behind all the hoopla. If you’re ready to include service in your Homecoming plans, try some of these ideas:
Campus Cleanup Designate a day after school for a campus cleanup and beautification project. Include it as one of the spirit week competition activities and award points for the class that has the most people show up to help. Check with the principal or grounds supervisor to map out specific areas that need work or specific tasks that need to be done so you won’t have people milling around trying to figure out what they should be doing. Designate a captain for each project so there will be someone in charge who knows what to do.
Class Service Projects Capitalize on the energy generated during spirit week by putting it to good use in a class service project. At Crofton HS in Nebraska, changes in football scheduling in 2010 had
shifted the homecoming parade to Friday, which meant fewer people were available to view it. The school decided to replace the parade with community service projects.
the service performed (number of hours times minimum wage would give you a good estimate).
Instead of working on parade floats, students and staff members worked on a variety of service projects in the local community. Seventh grade students cleaned up a creek, eighth graders baked cookies and delivered them to a local senior housing facility.
Select one charity to focus on for Homecoming week, then invite each class to come up with its own activity to raise money for it. Include this as part of the spirit week competition with points going to the class that raises the most money. Include the elementary and middle schools that feed into the high school in the competition for added impact.
Especially in these tough economic times, rallying everyone around a good cause as part of your Homecoming activities can build support for the school and put some purpose behind all the hoopla. Freshmen clean up local parks and conducted a canned food drive while sophomores removed debris around the school’s softball and football fields and cleaned the interiors of student transportation vehicles. Juniors helped cook meals and provided music and games at the senior housing facility. Seniors painted city fire hydrants and provided games, entertainment, and manicures to patients in a local nursing facility. To publicize your good work, set up a virtual parade on your school’s website with photos of students engaged in the various service projects. Tally the amount of money you saved by not creating floats and the value of
Service Competition
Cross-town Rivals Put the rivalry with your Homecoming game opponent to work for the community by challenging your rivals to a service competition. Collect food, clothing, blankets, books, baby items, or some other item and see which school can collect the most. Set up collection boxes marked with each team’s name outside the gate and have people put their donations in the box corresponding to their school. During the first half of the game have students from both schools count the donations and announce a winner during the second half of the game. Create a trophy for the winning school and donate the items collected to a local charitable group. Be sure to check first with the charity to determine its needs.
Food Floats
Alumni Auction
For the Homecoming parade, require that floats have to be made almost entirely out of canned food and other nonperishable food items. After the parade, deconstruct the floats and donate the food to different agencies in the area.
Invite school alumni and community members to participate in an online auction of donated items and services with the proceeds going to a designated charity. Give credit to contributors and be sure to note what year an alumni contributor graduated from the school.
Floating Food Drive Another idea involving canned food is to have an empty pickup truck or flatbed trailer as one of the entries in the Homecoming parade and ask spectators to bring canned goods and nonperishable food items to donate as the “float” goes by. Volunteers would walk alongside to collect the donations.
Food Sculpture If you don’t have a parade or just want to add a new event, have a competition between homeroom classes to see which class can create the best sculpture made from canned food and other nonperishable food items. Get judges to evaluate them and award prizes, then donate the food.
In Brief is published five times per year by the Alliance for Student Activities, a nonprofit corporation whose mission is to promote the value of cocurricular student activities and to provide professional development and support for advisers and future advisers. Board of Directors Ann Postlewaite, President Lyn Fiscus, Vice President John Glimco, Secretary Todd Burlingham, Treasurer © 2012 Alliance for Student Activities
Alliance for Student Activities www.alliance4studentactivities.org info@alliance4studentactivities.org
way to frame and prepare the largescale blank canvases. Put them on display, judge them for the class competition, then auction or raffle them off with the proceeds going to a charity. For a twist on the judging, instead of judges evaluating the paintings, have students vote with coins for the best one, similar to a penny war.
Spirit Chains with a Twist Playhouse Floats Sell 1” x 6” pieces of construction paper in school colors for 25 cents to make spirit chains in the cafeteria as a class competition. Instead of each class keeping the money raised, donate it all to a pre-selected charity in the community.
Food Collection Scavenger Hunt Hold a scavenger hunt for teams in which the items to be found are different food items. Create a list that includes items from all the food groups, designate a time limit, and award prizes to the teams that finish first or find the most items in the time allowed. Specify that teams cannot just go to the store and buy everything. If you include fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy, or meat items, be sure to provide coolers with ice in them to keep the food fresh. Donate the food to a local food pantry.
Spirit Dash Instead of a Homecoming parade, hold a 5K Spirit Walk to raise money for a predetermined charity. Invite all students, staff members, alumni, and community members to participate. Hold the walk on the weekend before Homecoming.
Art Auction Have each class paint a large canvas with a design that corresponds to the Homecoming theme. Consult with your art teacher for the best
Instead of traditional floats made from tissue paper pomps or other materials, have classes and clubs construct parade floats that incorporate a children’s playhouse in the design. Put the playhouses on display after the parade and raffle them off with proceeds going to charity. Communicate with the PTA or send fliers home with elementary school kids to bring in parents with younger children.
Publicize Your Efforts Whatever service projects you incorporate into your Homecoming festivities, be sure to publicize your efforts to the community. Send a media release to let people know how much money was raised or how many hours of service were performed. Take photos of the activities to send to your yearbook staff and the local media, and do a presentation to the school board summarizing what was accomplished. Adding service to your Homecoming can add a new dimension to raising school spirit and reduce complaints about the waste generated by typical activities. And isn’t the spirit of generosity the best kind of spirit to raise? Lyn Fiscus is founder of the Leadership Teacher website (www.leadershipteacher.us) and a former student activities adviser. She serves as Vice President of the Alliance.