It’s that time of the school year! Homecoming is just around the corner with Spirit Week starting Monday, Oct. 4. This year’s homecoming features a neon theme, and the Spirit Week dress-up days are based on different songs.

Tickets to the homecoming dance on Friday, Oct. 8 were limited due to COVID-19 protocols and have sold out. However, students can still win tickets through the Student Government Association’s (SGA) TikTok for Tickets. 

In order to be eligible to win, students have to follow SGA’s TikTok account (@olympicheightssga) and duet the dance video of Mr. and Miss OH posted there. Many students have already submitted their duet and are waiting to hear if they have won.

In addition to the limited ticket sales, COVID-19 protocols for the homecoming dance only allow for Olympic Heights students to attend. Students from other high schools will not be allowed to attend even if accompanied by an OH student.

Homecoming Spirit Week will kick off on Monday, Oct. 4 with UCLA Day, based on the RL Grime song “UCLA,” when students will dress up as a frat boy. On Tuesday, students will go country to Luke Bryan’s “Knockin’ Boots” by dressing up as a cowboy on Knockin’ Boots Day. Wednesday will have students wear their favorite sports team’s jersey on Work Hard, Play Hard Day based on the Wiz Khalifa song of the same name. 

Thursday is Pep Rally Day and the homecoming football game. For Pep Rally Day, Wiz Khalifa goes back-to-back with a nod to his song “Black and Yellow.” Black and Yellow Day will have freshmen wearing white, sophomores wearing black, juniors wearing yellow, and seniors wearing black and gold. 

Once again, COVID-19 raises its ugly head by limiting the pep rally in-person attendance to seniors only. However, the pep rally will be live-streamed to the classrooms during sixth period.

The homecoming football game will feature a matchup between the OH Lions and crosstown rival the Spanish River Sharks. Kickoff is at 6:30pm.

Spirit Week comes to an end on Friday, Oct. 8, with Neon Lights Day with students wearing neon colors in honor of Selena Gomez’s song “Neon Lights.” 

Miss OH Hannah Zerbo says her favorite dress up day will be UCLA Day on Tuesday and is especially excited for the Neon Splash game Tuesday afternoon. “We have a fun activity we’re doing after school called “Neon Splash” which is a jumbo-sized cup pong game with trash cans and volleyballs, and the two winners win free homecoming  dance tickets,” Zerbo explains.

OH Senior Class president Gabriella Petillo is most looking forward to Black and Yellow Day and the pep rally on Thursday. “It is an easy day for people to dress out so we always get a lot of participation, and it’s nice seeing everybody unified with their class and overall just show their school spirit.” 

Both Zerbo and Petillo are eager to see the school spirit turn out as they believe that this year’s spirit will be special because everyone is back at school together for the first time in a while.