Packaged by KARLA DOUGAN – Broadcast Staff
Outside of Clarke County, homecoming is regarded as one of the most memorable events of high school. Although once celebrated, today this spirit is not found at Clarke Central High School.
In fact, the homecoming parade was canceled last year and no plans have been made to bring it back. This year the dance was canceled, but saved by a group of concerned parents and students.
“What is high school without homecoming?” Student Government Association vice president and junior Sage O’Reilly said.
The problem began with the renovations at the school. Principal Dr. Robbie P. Hooker and others were concerned with the safety of students as construction surrounds the cafeteria where the dance was normally held. For this reason, the dance was moved to the New Gym.
“The issue for me as well as with Officer Reid was the safety issue of having the kids dropped off where the buses are, walk all the way down here to the (cafeteria) and you have some issues there with construction,” Hooker said.
Additionally, the sponsor for SGA stepped down with no replacement. Hooker said that without the SGA no one else had time to organize the dance.
A group of parents and students decided to step up to the challenge. Sage O’Reilly, Oglethorpe Elementary School teacher Happy Farber and Sage’s mother, Christy O’Reilly, worked to bring the Homecoming dance back. They worked with Hooker to raise money, increase student interest and reach out to the community for donations of food and music.
“The one parent who’s been spearheading this would be Happy Farber. She is a teacher within the school district here and she was saying she could get a DJ, and she could get parents to get donations together,” Hooker said.
Farber worked with Hooker to get approval for their plans. Christy focused on advertising and fundraising, and set up a GoFundMe account where people can donate online. This account, along with ticket sales, should be enough to cover the expenses.
“We have no access to any of the funds that have typically been used for Homecoming, so we started out with a zero balance unless we sell tickets,” Christy said. “(Farber and I) set up a GoFundMe account, and also a Facebook website that people can go to and find out information about what we still need. We’ve raised as of today $1300 on the GoFundMe site.”
Parents and students are excited about what this Homecoming dance has in store.
“It’s going to be something like no other Homecoming dance before. It’s not just going to be two little speakers on either side of the DJ. It’s going to be a lot more. We have King of Pops coming to give out free popsicles. Larry’s Giant Subs donated some sandwiches. There is going to be a popcorn machine,” Christy said. “There’s lots of other surprises.”
More from Karla Dougan
More from Julie Alpaugh
