Arguably one of the most enthusiastic weeks at PHS during the school year, Homecoming Week 2024 hit the ball out of the park, filled to the brim with events ranging from sports to a movie night, and lots of fun activities for the students.

Since Homecoming Week had so many amazing activities, it was essential that the student council was able to delegate efficiently to reduce stress. 

“A challenge that I personally felt like I struggled with was trusting everyone to do their duties,” Student Body President Kinley Cooley said. “But I quickly realized that everyone else in student council wants Homecoming to be just as amazing as I hoped it would be.” 

The school incorporates many traditions each year, including movie night. The movie is traditionally shown outside for a change of scenery, as long as the weather permits it. 

“On Monday night, we had some wind,” Student Body Vice President Katie Morrison said. “But that was pretty much a really simple fix.”  

Next on the agenda was the highly anticipated “Buff Puff” event, one of the most cherished Homecoming traditions at PHS where the boys form teams of six players to play volleyball. Out of ten teams, Sigma Nights came out on top this year with seniors Dusty Carter, Cody Seifert, Jaxon Hancock, Mitchel Wainscott, junior Kolby Gates, and sophomore Cody Fisher.  After winning the buff puff bracket, the team faced the varsity girl’s volleyball team. 

“I thought we weren’t going to win because we’ve played them before,” Carter said. “But I think they weren’t trying all that hard. But I mean, it was still a nice victory, of course.” 

During Homecoming Olympics, kids came together to compete in the most outrageous games, including sumo wrestling, water balloon volleyball, slip and slide race, ring toss, and the renowned tug-a-war. 

The kids compete for points to become the top team in their pool, broken up into men’s, women’s, and co-ed. The more points a team can score, the better the prizes are. The best prize is the tug-of-war champion shirts received from winning the tug-a-war bracket. 

“Honestly, it felt really good,” junior Anai Torres said. “But I’m glad that we pulled it together because at first, I didn’t think we were going to win.”

Thursday was the tailgate for the volleyball game, an event where PHS gives away hotdogs and other refreshments to the loyal Panther volleyball fans. The tailgate was a big hit, thanks to a very kind donation from Blair’s Market.

“Our tailgate probably went the best it’s ever gone in the years I’ve been in high school,” Morrison said. “We got rid of all our food, and it wasn’t just parents and grandparents eating that food, it was actual PHS students.” 

Friday is all about PHS pride. The hallways were flooded with orange and black everywhere, and the whole school came together for the very entertaining pep rally. 

“The pep rally was very fun,” Carter said. “Just me sounding confident helped get the school kind of hyped for the football game.” 

A fun addition to the prep rally this year was the lip sync battle, a competition between the Cross Country, Football, and Volleyball teams. It was a very close race, but the Cross Country team came out victorious. 

“I was super surprised when they said we won,” Cooley said. “I really enjoyed the volleyball team’s dance. I felt like both groups were equally deserving of the win.”

The final event of Homecoming Week was the dance, one of the most attended homecoming dances in the last few years. It’s a place where kids could come support the Student Council and have endless fun with all their friends. 

“We had a lot of kids [participate] this year,” Morrison said. “I think that it not only brought a lot of funds for our council, but it also brought a lot more fun for the kids that were there.”