It’s that time of year again in Atlantic, with school spirits high and positive attitudes found around every corner. Homecoming is a time for friendly competition between grades and participating in the many activities that take place during the week. The Trojan football team will take on the OABCIG Falcons on Friday at 7 p.m.

This year, the homecoming theme is “Game On!” Students can take part in things such as dress days, float building, dodgeball, the food drive, lunch games and more. Each activity is worth a different amount of points and the class with the most points at the end of the week wins the Spirit Stick.

Dress days begin at the start of the week and the theme for Monday is “One,” where students wear the color that coordinates to their class. Freshmen wear red, sophomores wear green, juniors wear yellow, seniors wear blue and staff wear black. Tuesday is “Glucose World,” which is pajama day. Wednesday is “WHO IS YOU?” with teachers dressing as students and students dressing as teachers. Thursday is “a situation involving exposure to danger,” which is camo day. Finally, Friday is black and gold.

Float building began on Wednesday, Sept. 19 and goes until Wednesday, Sept. 26, which is also judging day. Each grade is allotted 30 total hours to work and can schedule their own times to build. They also have a budget of $50 from the school as well as a $25 gift card to Walmart. No copyrighted material is permitted and floats should follow the overall theme for homecoming while also involving elements of the game and class.

These floats will be showcased during the parade on Friday along with floats for teachers and sports. Parade sign-ups are in the office and registration will be worth spirit points. Line-up will start at 1:30 p.m. at the middle school and the parade begins at 2:30 p.m. from the middle school heading towards the post office, where it will end.

Dodgeball will be played on Tuesday and Thursday during AO time. Students can report straight to the gym after second period. Freshmen and juniors will play first, followed by sophomores and seniors. Losers of each round play each other for third and fourth while winners play for first or second. The class that wins overall will also play the teachers for a chance to earn additional spirit points and the class with the best sportsmanship can also earn extra points.

The food drive begins on Monday and will run until Thursday. There will be bins with labels for each class in the hallway by the main entrance for students to put their donations. The class with the most items earns the most points.

Lunch games will be played every day during A and B lunch. Classes will have the chance to earn spirit points by winning the games organized by Student Council. Lunch periods are scored separately for points.

Buttons and dance tickets will be on sale all week. Buttons are $2 each and tickets are $5 each. These are both worth spirit points. Homecoming t-shirts were sold for $20 earlier in the month and students could’ve purchased those for points as well.

Each class will have the chance to design a banner to hang in the Trojan Bowl for the game on Friday night. These will be judged and are also worth points.

On Friday, there will be a pep rally and homecoming coronation after eighth period, beginning at 12:13. Classes are shortened and a schedule was emailed to students. The choir will perform to begin the assembly, followed by coronation. Each candidate will be introduced and walked in by their parents and the 2017 royalty will crown the new royalty for 2018. There are seven girl and seven boy candidates. Girls include Halsey Bailey, Alyssa Ginther, Taylor Hansen, Cambry Miller, Baylee Newell, Sadie Welter and Ashley Wendt. Boys include Nathan Behrends, Tyler Comes, Matthew Gearheart, Kenneth Jimerson, Chase McLaren, Connor Pellet and Korben Peterson. Voting for royalty will take place after viewing the video during Wednesday’s seminar/AO time.

After crowning, the gym will be rearranged for the pep rally. Cheerleaders and student council are in charge of activities which include cheers and games. Students are highly encouraged to participate.

There will be a homecoming dance on Saturday, Sept. 29 from 8:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. in the AHS commons. Out of town permission slips can be picked up in the office and are due back by noon on Friday, Sept. 28. There will be a candidate dance and introductions at 9:30 p.m. Suitable clothing for the dance is dressy casual. Dress code is not fully enforced, meaning girls can wear spaghetti straps, off the shoulder tops/dresses or sleeveless tops/dresses. However, outfits still need to be appropriate.

The point breakdown works as follows: dress days are 5 points per person per day; float building is 5 points per person each time and the winning float earns 800 points, second earns 600, third earns 400 and fourth earns 200; dodgeball winners are awarded 400 points and an additional 50 if they beat the teachers, second gets 300 points, third 200 points, fourth 100, and there are also 200 points given to the class with the best sportsmanship; first place for the food drive earns 350 points, second 275, third 200 and fourth 125; buttons are 10 points each; t-shirts are 20 points per shirt; lunch game scoring is separated by A and B lunch and first gets 100 points, second gets 75, third 50 and fourth 25; there are five points awarded per dance ticket purchased; the winners of Battle Cry earn 250 points, second 200, third 150 and fourth 100; and finally the winner of the class banner wins 300 points, second place gets 200, third 100 and fourth 75.