As the student body prepares to travel back in time to earlier decades for homecoming this year, Viator’s homecoming history was dug up.

While hairstyles and fashion choices have obviously changed from the 60’s to now, many traditions have remained the same.
Spanish teacher, Mr. Kurt Paprocki recounted his memories of homecoming from his years at Saint Viator.

No dramatic changes have taken place since Mr. Paprocki’s time as a high schooler, but there are minor changes from year to year.

The homecoming theme, generated by the students, allows for fun activities and decorations leading up to the dance. Decorations corresponding to the theme can be found around every corner during homecoming week and at the dance on Saturday. The decorations at the dance, however, have not always been quite as extensive.

As Mrs. JoAnne Francis works on her thirty-third homecoming, she explained why the decorations have become more present in recent years.

“This is the student homecoming and it should be special. I always feel that we’re in the business of making memories so that’s why we do very elaborate decorations at the homecoming dance,” said Mrs. Francis.

Another change through the years is the selection of students for homecoming court.

“We have the faculty nominate and students vote where it used to be the students coming up with names, and sometimes they were mean-spirited,” said Mrs. Francis.

“I like the whole idea of selecting and honoring your peers whether it’s on homecoming court or selecting people to play in the games.”

Building off the idea of ridding homecoming of unfriendly traditions, Mr. Paprocki and Mrs. Francis both agreed that over the years the community has become more inclusive towards the underclassmen, especially freshmen.

“We have gotten away from having homecoming being the time that freshmen are inducted into the Viator community,” said Mrs. Francis.

“Now it’s more of a family and we are celebrating together. No one class has to prove themselves one way or the other.”

Mr. Paprocki agreed on this positive change to include the entire community.

“Freshmen could get called out to sing during lunch period. If you had a younger brother or sister, you could say, ‘Hey. You get up in front of everybody and sing,’” Mr. Paprocki said.

This tradition has slowly become less severe as homecoming is early in the year and freshmen are still adjusting to high school.
Class competitions on games day will, of course, still take place.

“I really like now since we have gone to less class competitions, because we still have those, but I feel it is more of a friendly competition. It’s more inclusive and not belittling or putting down one class or the underclassmen,” said Mrs. Francis.

The type of dress seen at the dance has also changed over the years.

Kelsey Napoleon, sister of Robert Napoleon ‘12, talked about how she noticed a difference in attire worn at the dance between her time at Viator and her brother’s time as students.

“My older brother’s class used to dress up to the theme. Now the theme doesn’t dictate what students wear to the dance,” said Kelsey.

However, the energy and excitement surrounding homecoming has not lessened over the years.

“The spirit has not changed. It’s a fun time to get everyone together for the same purpose: to share our school spirit,” said Mr. Paprocki.

“The whole week is one of my favorite weeks of the school year. The dress downs. The school spirit that comes out. The games day and the pep rally.”

As homecoming draws near, Mrs. Francis gave a few hints to excite the student body regarding the theme.

“Each grade level has taken a decade for their decorations. Freshmen are fifties, seniors are sixties, sophomore are seventies, and juniors are eighties,” said Mrs. Francis.

As for the always new and exciting games day, Mrs. Francis revealed that, “Games day is going to be a retro throwback activity.”
The students look forward to a homecoming week so exciting that they will be wondering where all the time went.