Homecoming is one of the most highly anticipated events of the school year, but the real star of the show is the crowning of homecoming queen on game night. Out of the twelve people on homecoming court, only one is selected to wear the crown. 

On October 14 during halftime of the football game, Kumae Derege was announced as the 2022-2023 homecoming queen while Kayah Bey was chosen as the runner-up.

The other members of the homecoming court were Merey Kinsey, Amari Austin, Kim Bdap, Ava Brinsfield, Madison Ennet, Alexa Fields, Jada Jones, Victoria Kelley, Sophia Naum and Layla Simmon.

Following that exciting night, East Meck held a homecoming dance Oct. 15 for the first time in three years. 

Students definitely wanted to make up for the lost time and stood in long lines to buy tickets. For the first time in East Meck history, the homecoming dance tickets completely sold out.

The students who did manage to snag a ticket were not disappointed by what they saw. The cafeteria was converted into a dance floor jam packed with students dressed to their absolute best. The music played from the enthusiastic DJ could be heard all the way outside the school. 

Songs like No Hands and Apple Bottom Jeans had students bouncing up and down.  This year’s homecoming theme was Glowco, a fun idea full of lights and neon colors. Students showed their school spirit by wearing glow in the dark stickers on shoes and carrying around glow sticks. Students passed around balloons filled with lights in the crowd, making the cafeteria shine. 

The dance was the final event for school spirit week. The week started off with Jersey
Day, where students repped their favorite sports teams. It was then followed by Tacky Tuesday, Wayback Wednesday, and the very popular Anything But a Backpack Day–a day full of interesting surprises, including a student bringing their school supplies in aTarget shopping cart. The week finished off with Color Wars between all of the grade levels.

On Friday, October 14, a pep rally was held during the final hours of school. The rally included a game of tug-of-war between the grade levels, a bag race, musical chairs and a performance by East cheerleaders. 

“So basically in our planning we hoped to bring the people of the different classes within our school together,” Junior Board member Arame Seck said, “while simultaneously advocating for our junior class, and by hyping them up while also bringing our junior class itself together.”

Most of the pep rally games had the different grade levels go against each other in an attempt to rally up competitive spirit from the onlooking students. 

“We decided that competing in these different games will help in achieving not only entertainment but also help the junior class have pride in being a junior,” Seck said.

Later that night, the East Mecklenburg football team went toe to toe with Independence. While the Eagles did not come out victorious, the night was still filled with fun activities.