It is one of the most frantic, exciting and stressful weeks of the year for high school students. Believe it or not, this week is not finals week, it’s homecoming week. While the end result proves to be worth the labor, hours of hard work are still required to make a successful homecoming. This year, homecoming takes place on Oct. 7.

For many students, the work begins weeks before homecoming. Float building is an annual tradition that encourages the classes to work together while also having fun.

This year students are building their floats based off of the theme ‘FC Turns Back Time.’ Each class chose a decade which they will represent on their float. This year’s senior class of 2017 had the advantage of choosing a decade first. They decided to build a float depicting the 70s.

The senior class already knows what it feels like to win, as their class won homecoming week last year. They plan on carrying that momentum on to this year’s event.

Participation from the homecoming court is very helpful at times. ASB president and homecoming queen candidate Hannah Nale, ‘17, looks forward to building the float with her class and sees it as a way to bond with her fellow classmates.

“I love working on the float because it is a good way to bond with your class,” Nale said. “It is cool to see different people in our class use their talents on the float. As the past champions of homecoming, I except our class to blow everyone away once again. Go seniors!”

The seniors aim on putting a unique spin on their float to make it stand out. They plan on bringing the 70’s to life by interacting with the crowd. The class plans on incorporating disco music to their float by having a dance floor.

Sydney Belmont, ‘17, believes that these things will help their class secure another homecoming victory.

“My favorite part about working on the float is that the class always enjoys doing it,” Belmont said. “This year the class float has a few crowd involvement things such as a photo opportunity and a small dance floor. I think those few things will help the float stand out from the others. Throughout the week as I talked to the other classes about their float, I think the senior class has a great chance of winning.”

The seniors constructed their float at Nick Rocca’s house. Rocca has hosted the class of ’17 in their efforts to build a float since freshmen year. The class if grateful for his support and for the support of others who have helped them along the way.

Belmont is appreciative of Rocca’s help and believes that her class was able to work well together as homecoming drew closer.

“We worked on our float at Nick Rocca’s house,” Belmont said. “He has kindly hosted our float meetings at his house since freshman year. This year we didn’t have a ton of class participation when building the float but everyone came together in the end and participated as much as they could.”

ASB vice president Trevor Trevino, ’17, looks forward to coming up with ideas for the float. He enjoys helping his class come up with unique ideas for their float.

“My favorite part about working on the float is coming up with creative ideas and painting the backdrop,” Trevino said. “Also I enjoy working together as a senior class. Our representation of our decade, the 70s, makes us standout. Our lava lamps and disco ball make the float stand out and look bright and colorful.”

As the senior class prepares for their last homecoming as high school students, many are taking advantage of opportunities such as this to bond with their class. Homecoming begins at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 7. Be sure to get there early to check out the floats!

Want to know more about the homecoming floats? Read 2016 FC homecoming floats: Juniors.

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