After a year of homecoming lost to COVID-19, Parker returned to Homecoming traditions like spirit week, athletics parade, sports games, and the dance. One of the first major all-school events since Parker’s full re-opening, the week also brought sports scheduling disparities, standard COVID precautions, and no wins for Parker athletics.

Barring masks and social distancing guidelines, this year’s homecoming festivities were not unrecognizable from years past.

The athletics parade proceeded as usual, with student athletes from sixth through twelfth grade proceeding throughout the school, cheered on by their classmates, teachers, and community.

Homecoming sports proceeded mostly as usual, with a few scheduling and organizational hiccups. Senior and Student Athletic Council Head Ava Rosenberg said she wishes turnout was higher and that there was more attention to the planning and timing of the games, especially considering “we had the time to make sure that this homecoming was what it should have been after two years of not having organized sports together,” Rosenberg said.

“The people that did turn out did an amazing job. And they were excited,” Rosenberg said. “I know that, for example, halfway through the boys soccer game, the field hockey girls have to leave to get ready for their game … but overall there were not as many high schoolers there. The entire student body should have gone to the games to support their classmates.”

Due to a miscommunication, the girls JV Volleyball team played against a team composed of faculty, staff, and parents, including Food Service Director Chef Zac Maness and Upper School math teacher and volleyball coach Dr. Chris Riff.

Rosenberg said she feels that this mix-up negatively affected the image of the volleyball program. “I heard that the parent game was fun. It’s just that homecoming needs to be a time for people to understand that the sports are serious, and they’re not a joke,” Rosenberg said. “I think that took a toll on the volleyball program, a little bit.”

Rosenberg and her co-Student Athletic Council Head, senior Jackson Antonow, are hoping that some of the changes they have implemented this year will stick around in the years to come, such as the Soccer v. Volleyball game.

“During homecoming week, there should always be a game to represent the underrepresented teams. This year we did volleyball versus boys soccer, and that would represent girls volleyball, since boys soccer does get the hype that they deserve,” Rosenberg said. “I hope that that tradition carries on.”

Rosenberg specifically said she was unhappy with the scheduling of the Varsity Boys Soccer and Varsity Girls Field Hockey games. “If the boys game starts at 12:30, and they have their processions that start at 12:30, the actual game doesn’t start till 12:45,” Rosenberg said. “The girls ended up starting at 2:30 or 2:45, as opposed to 2 p.m.”

Rosenberg said that this discrepancy was expected, and as such should have been built into the schedule, and that the incorrect timing lowered turnout to the field hockey game, a historically under-attended event in comparison to Boys Soccer.

 “Unfortunately, when the games get pushed back like that, especially since the girls game was later, people are not as inclined to stay for the entire sporting event,” Rosenberg said.

After the Field Hockey match, students returned to the school at 7 p.m, when festivities culminated in the annual Homecoming Dance, a two-hour event organized by the Social Committee. Due to COVID restrictions this year’s dance looked different than those in years past.

The dance was held in the Big Gym, rather than the usual Draft Gym. Food was set in the Small Gym to separate no-mask eating from masked dancing. Chips, candy, water, and other prepackaged snacks were provided.

Despite the restrictions, senior Ivy Jacobs, a head of the Social Committee, is proud of the work she and her committee did to make the Homecoming dance enjoyable. “I think it went extremely well. I was really impressed with the turnout, especially from upperclassmen,” Jacobs said. “We had a large number of upperclassmen stay for a relatively long time and engage with other students, and have fun and dance.”

Although masks were required, not all students abided by the rules. As a temporary measure the lights in the previously dark Big Gym were turned on for about five minutes.

Jacobs said that chaperones did have to “ask people to put their masks on because people felt as though they were outside of school … But they still did, so that’s when we had the ‘turning lights on debacle’ for a few minutes.”

Approval for the Homecoming Dance came from the Medical Subcommittee only two-and-a-half weeks before the event was scheduled, leaving minimal time for the Social Committee to plan. “For a while, we were nervous that we weren’t going to have enough teachers,” Jacobs said.

At least one teacher expressed apprehension about chaperoning the dance, citing fears of coronavirus and students not adhering to social distancing guidelines.

Despite a shortened time frame for planning, freshman JP Lazar said he enjoyed his first Parker Homecoming. “Homecoming was super fun and great,” Lazar said. “I really enjoyed the opportunity to make connections with other students outside of the classroom.”