Adam Howe
Editor-In-Chief
The Warsaw R-IX School District, it's students and fans ushered in Homecoming Week 2023 with a grand parade on Monday afternoon. Wildcats students, parents, business owners and fans lined the streets of downtown Main Street in Warsaw to begin the celebration in anticipation of Friday's match-up with the Sherwood Marksmen.
This year's spirit week theme is "music genres" and each class float represented an era.
The freshman Class of 2027 showed a patriotic "Party In The U.S.A." theme for the 90's.
The sophomore Class of 2026 represented the 1980's with their "Welcome To The Jungle" themed float.
The junior Class of 2025 donned a 70's theme with much "solid" gold.
And the senior Class of 2024 represented their peers with a 60's diner theme and "Sweet Caroline" blaring out of the jukebox.
All other fall sports were also part of the show, as well as middle school and youth teams, all royalty candidates, SFCC, the WHS Alumni Association and FFA.
As spirit week continued on Tuesday, students on all campuses were encouraged to participate in fun activities.
Disco Day was on Tuesday, Wednesday is Country Day, Thursday will be Rap Day and Friday is Techno Day (Color Wars), where each class will be represented by a different school color.
Throughout the week, Wildcats players and coaches will also travel to elementary schools to read and visit with students at those schools; a tradition that many generations have enjoyed.
"We go to the schools because I can remember being an elementary student myself and the high school football players coming to our school," said WHS head football coach Ryan Boyer. "They were larger than life. It was such a memorable experience and I want to make sure that the elementary kids now have that same experience."
A pep assembly will be held at the high school at 2:30 PM and the week will conclude when the Wildcats host the Sherwood Marksmen for a 7:00 PM kickoff on Friday night.
Royalty candidates for 2023 include, for Princess; Brylee Brewster, Haylee Cobb and Alysia Yoder.
Prince candidates for this year are: Jayce Depriest, Elijah Long and Drake Murrell.
Queen candidates for 2023 include: Randi Buchholz, Rachel Henderson and Josephine Kelsey.
Nominees for this year's King include: Nate Banfield, Dylan Elmer and Zane Huffman.
Crown bearers for the court will be Case Kreisel and Cady Larson.
"Homecoming week is a great experience for our kids," said WHS Principal Danny Morrison. "We try and have something fun all week long for them; whether that be the parade, high school assemblies or the spirit week activities."
