Parade Added to Homecoming

This year's Homecoming week, beginning on Tuesday, September 5 and culminating on Friday, September 8, will feature some exciting new additions—some things CCA has never experienced before.

“Charging into a New Era” is this year's Homecoming theme and is being led by a team of secondary teachers, including Mrs. April Lawrence, Ms. Megan Mauney, and Mrs. Charlene Swedenburg.

According to Mrs. Lawrence, the idea for the theme was a play on the popularity of Taylor Swift's “The Eras Tour” and the idea that CCA is growing and changing.

“There are quite a few new staff members and new students, and there seems to be this genuine desire among everyone for deeper relationships with Christ and one another,” she said.

The team of teachers were also joined by the student-led decorating club that have helped in organizing the theme and creating the dress-up days.

Mckenzie Kain, an 11th Grade Student who's a part of the decorating club, said, “We felt like we're going into a new era with new teachers and lots of changes, so it made sense to center our theme around that.”

The CCA administration has embraced the new ideas presented this year, which include a Homecoming parade and early dismissal on Homecoming Day.

The parade, which will take the same route as the Senior Parade, will feature Homecoming Maids and their escorts, Senior Maids in convertibles, fire trucks, CCA cheerleaders, Rams football team, floats decorated by each grade, and our CCA mascot.

Mrs. Lawrence, a new teacher at CCA this year, has experienced parades in previous schools where she's taught, but brought up the idea to adminstration early on, saying “it's a chance to bring everyone together and feels like a family celebration.”

She said, “The younger kids have excitement in their eyes as the girls in their dresses ride by in convertibles. Parents beam with pride as their sons and daughters come through on floats. The cheerleaders get to pump the crowd up for the coming Pep Rally and game. Then you end it with a fire truck full of football players!”

According to her, it's the quintessential celebration in a school, the perfect way to promote school spirit and create memories.

As in years past, students will also have a chance to dress up each day of the week in the name of School Spirit: Tuesday is “Rhyme without Reason;” Wednesday is “Decades Day;” Thursday is “Music Day;” and Friday is “Spirit Day.”

“We really depended on the cheerleaders and one another for dress-up days,” Mrs. Lawrence said. “If you think about an era, it's a period of time, so the Decades Day fell right into that. The others were just fun. I'm most excited about ‘Rhyme With No Reason.’ I think our students will be super creative on that day."

As for the student perspective, Mckenzie said, “We didn't want to do dress-up days that we'd done before. We wanted to come up with new ideas and I think we did that. The dress-up days are always fun, but I'm glad we get to add in a parade this year. It will be fun to watch.”

The administration, staff, and students are hoping this year marks a start for new traditions at CCA that will last. They hope it will draw in more CCA family members to events like the parade, pep rally, and game.

“The culture is changing at CCA and our school family is growing,” Mrs. Lawrence said. “I'm hoping everyone will mark this Homecoming as a special day on their calendars and join us as we charge into a new era.”