UPDATE, Oct. 23: After judges evaluated the floats during half-time of the homecoming game, student leadership announced that the juniors had won second place. The seniors came in first; the freshmen, in third; and the sophomores, in fourth.

At last year’s homecoming, the class of 2012 came in a close second to the seniors in the annual float-building competition. This year, the class will again compete for first place with their New Year’s Eve-themed project.

After student leadership chose holidays as the homecoming theme, the junior class took a vote on which holiday they wanted; the outcome was New Year’s. The class began preparation soon after, and construction launched on Oct. 8.

Josh Hopper, who has worked on floats since his freshman year, said his class picked New Year’s because the theme would be something they are accustomed to.

“New Year’s obviously means buildings and city scapes, and for the last two years, we have made floats with buildings,” Hopper said. “We are obviously good at it, since we got first place [in 2008], so we’re doing it again.”

Julianne King hosted float construction at her house two years ago. For this year’s homecoming, King decided to volunteer her house again. She said hosting the float-building can be taxing, but the benefit is worth the extra work.

“I don’t mind having float-building at my house; it’s just more work,” King said. “Hosting can be difficult because you have to set up beforehand and clean afterwards. You also have to provide tools and other stuff people wouldn’t normally bring. It’s overall worth it, though.”

To go along with the New Year’s theme, the junior class will host a live band which will play music by The Killers. The members of the band have practiced for weeks, and will play songs like “When You Were Young” and “Spacemen.”

“What we’ve practiced so far, I think, is pretty good,” Zed Fries, guitarist, said. “It’s just learning and perfecting all of the songs for a live gig that’s going to be kind of difficult.”

Following last year’s second place, many of the juniors have taken a laid-back approach toward float-building. Hopper is one of these people, and said he respects the class’s decision to relax this year.

“Last year, with the 16-foot float, I did not think we were going to win at all,” Hopper said. “This year, I think it’s cool that we’re chilling out. I think that’s how it should be done, rather than stressing, which is no fun.”

King also believes her class is taking the competition less serious this year. She says she would rather hang out with friends than compete against three other classes for first place.

“Winning is fun, but I much rather enjoy hanging out with friends, painting and setting up our float,” King said. “I think our class’s main goal is to have fun, rather than competing just to win.”

Celeste Camacho, who attended Kings Christian School last year, said the FC homecoming experience differs from that of her old school.

“It’s on a bigger scale, and there’s a lot more class participation,” Camacho said. “People are more spirited, and we actually get stuff done. I love it.”

The junior float, along with the other class floats, will be displayed during halftime of the varsity game on homecoming, Oct. 22.

For more information on homecoming, read the Oct. 15 article, Homecoming week schedule, 2010. For more information on class floats, read the Oct. 15 article, Freshmen construct first float; the Oct. 18 article, Sophomore float captures American patriotism; and the Oct. 19 article, Seniors envision float victory.

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