On Saturday night, Sept. 30, Hays High School had its annual Homecoming dance with the “Back to ‘80s” theme in the gym. The dance started at 8 p.m. and ended at 10:30 p.m., and it had more people showing up than there has been in recent years.

Although the Homecoming dance was popular with students, there was also a week of events leading up to it.

The week included spirit days, which started off with Barbie vs. Ken Day on Monday, Sept. 25, and the winners of that dress-up day were the seniors. Tuesday, Sept. 26 was Twin Day, in which students dressed up together, and Wednesday, Sept. 27 was ‘80s Character Day, in which students dressed as their favorite 1980s movie characters; the winners for both days were the seniors. On Thursday, Sept. 28, there was Class Color Day, and on Friday, Sept. 29, there was Formal Dress Day.

On Thursday night, Hays High had the annual Homecoming games and bonfire. The winners of the games, including points from spirit week, were the seniors. As a reward, they got to leave school five minutes early the next week. The bonfire was largely attended this year, although it did not start until the home boys soccer and volleyball games were finished so that everyone could attend.

The next day, Friday, was an early release day, so that students could attend the formal assembly then prepare for the parade. The float building contest took place earlier in the week, and freshmen won that challenge. On Friday night, the football game resulted in a win over Ulysses for Hays High, and during halftime, senior Nate Henderson won Homecoming king, and senior Mika Zimmerman won queen.

“Winning Homecoming king is a great honor, and I am so happy that people voted for me,” Henderson said. “I was so nervous, but when I heard my name, I was so excited and happy and so glad that my friend, Mika, also won.”

24jwente@usd489.com