Students rushed through the busy HHS halls at 1:50 p.m. on Friday, packing into the bleachers facing the turf field and battling near-freezing temperatures in order to partake in a favorite event among Hingham High students: the beginning of the annual Homecoming celebrations. As the name implies, Hingham alumni return to the school on this day each year. To Hingham High School students, however, Homecoming is a day filled with fun activities that culminate with a dance.

Although the first official event of Homecoming each year is the Pep Rally, which is held at the end of the school day on the Friday before the official Homecoming games, the Student Council hosts a popular Spirit Week in the week leading up to Homecoming in order to stir up more school spirit before the athletic events. This years Spirit Week dress-up themes included days such as Jersey Day and Class Colors Day.

During Spirit Week, the Student Council introduced a new fundraiser that also showcased Hingham spirit called the “Coin War,” in which each class battled to fill its bucket with coins to be donated to NephCure in honor of Andrew Warhaftig.  

On Friday, students excitedly filed into the stands to watch the annual Pep Rally while wearing their Hingham colors. The announcers for the Pep Rally, seniors Billy Johnston and Catherine Heffernan, first got the crowd cheering, and then introduced each fall sports team. These teams then made their way across the field to a song of their choice. Following the introduction of all sports teams, the dance team gave their annual performance and a preview of their halftime routine for the upcoming football game. After the performance, the football team’s seniors each recognized a member of the HHS faculty by presenting them with their jerseys. The next event was a three-legged race, pitting teams of freshmen and senior siblings involved in athletics against each other for a challenging yet entertaining race.

Though the Pep Rally is often seen as the “Opening Ceremonies” of Homecoming, the Hingham girls’ volleyball games on Friday night served as the start of the Homecoming athletics. Celebrating their Dig Pink night, Hingham’s freshman, junior varsity, and varsity teams all defeated Plymouth North High School. It was later announced that after winning this game, the volleyball team had won the Patriot League Championships for the first time in Hingham High School history. Following the exciting conclusion of the night, the next Homecoming events began early the next morning.

Although the first game on Saturday began at 9:00 a.m., many packed the stands much earlier in order to scout out the best Hingham gear being sold at activity booths. Each year, booths from HHS clubs, athletics, and parental organizations set up shop along the outside of the turf field and sell Hingham merchandise or conduct raffles, often serving as one of the biggest fundraising events throughout the year for HHS activities.

Since Hingham has a number of clubs and activities, club officers often have to find a table early in the morning in order to get a good spot. Junior Claire Schnorr, President of the Spanish Club, laughs, “I reserved my table at 3a.m. the day of homecoming in order to get a decent spot.” Though the race to the top spots often leaves the later clubs in makeshift stands, a number of extra tables were provided this year, allowing more clubs to hold sales.

Fortunately for many new clubs, enough tables were available so that they could hold their first fundraisers. Junior Mary Maffei, a member of the school’s new Veganism Club, reflects, “Veganism club is a less conventional club, so people were probably surprised to see us at a booth.”

Sales often last from the first game to the last game, allowing Hingham fans to shop while watching a number of sports games from afar. These matches included the field hockey, boys’ soccer, girls’ soccer, and, of course, the football games. The field hockey team, girls’ soccer team, and football team all won their respective games.

At the conclusion of the athletic events around 4:00 p.m., students returned home to prepare for perhaps the most anticipated Homecoming event: the Homecoming dance. The Gatsby-themed Homecoming dance saw a record high for attendance this year, as more tickets were sold with the opening of the gym as a dance floor in addition to the cafeteria. Lasting from 7-10, students made their last 2018 Homecoming memories before the long day came to a close.