Elaborate blue colors, face paintings, colorful signs, and cheerful students were behind the eagle and Colonel mascot on Parker’s annual Homecoming Day. On Saturday, September 23, Parker’s Varsity and JV Soccer and Field Hockey teams took the field against their arch rivals, Latin, and Parker’s volleyball teams played in the big gym against Lake Forest High School. Fans entered the gates at 7:30 AM to begin a Parker Homecoming experience improved from previous years.
“Each year we strive to improve upon whatever we did last year,” said Bobby Starks, the Athletic Director at Parker.
The excitement began on Monday, September 18, with a spirit wear sale of Parker merch including decorated signs, t-shirts, hoodies, hats, bags, stickers, and other accessories to prepare for Friday’s annual homecoming parade.
The Parker Athletic Department in collaboration with the Parents Athletic Committee led by Julie Zwick has worked on enhancing the homecoming experience. Their collective efforts aim to transform Homecoming into an all-wide school celebration, ensuring that the crowd is not limited to just high school athletes.
“We have made Homecoming an all-school activity not just for high school athletes but to include as many people in the entire school community,” Zwick said. In pursuit of this goal, they have introduced Middle School sports into the mix, actively encouraging Middle School teams to join in the festivities.
Bobby Starks, the athletic director at Parker, explained the idea behind their inclusive approach.
“We are going to more intentionally connect our Middle School teams to our Upper School teams and more intentionally connect our Lower School students and families to come out and enjoy the Homecoming festivities. It’s important to emphasize that Homecoming is a community-wide event.”
Their dedication aims to ensure that Homecoming makes the boundaries of various student groups, offering an experience for everyone in the Parker School community.
Sarah Kinnison, a parent of a varsity soccer player, was able to experience homecoming, and she watched her son play against Latin. “The homecoming soccer game filled the air with energy from the players and fans,” said Kinnison. “The event opened with bagpipes and a beautiful song from a high school student, then young children, teens, parents, and grandparents cheered on the sidelines and enjoyed observing FWP’s graceful footwork and teamwork.
The experience also held some sentimentality for Kinnison “Some of us, parents of seniors, felt a certain warmness in our hearts as we watched the little kids running and cheering and remembered when our kids, now in their last Homecoming game at FWP, were incredibly adorable and goofy and little too, and had many K-12 grades still ahead of them,” she said.
Fans were also able to purchase donuts in the morning and ice cream in the afternoon at the newly implemented food trucks in the Webster parking lot. As Parker’s cafeteria works endlessly every day to provide food for their students, the food trucks are a factor to complement and appreciate.
“I have an incredible team,” said Zac Maness, Food Service Director at Parker. “It takes years of trial and error, and we’ve spent many years trying different things, and finally after honing in on what we wanted to do. We have it pretty tight now we know how much people are going to eat based on last year although this is the second year everything is complementary. No one is buying anything, and all of the numbers went up.”
“I love to see a big turnout with a lot of families and a lot of fun, and I hope all of the new things we introduce this year will go well,” Ellen Sanquist, Assistant Director of Athletics, said. “The photo booth, the food trucks, the parades, the grape jam singing. That will be my wish to see everything go smoothly.”
