New homecoming theme, same float building tradition

By Claire Duisenberg & Vera Resendez,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Homecoming week means homecoming traditions, one being the student-made floats for the parade on Friday afternoon through Downtown Davis. Each grade at the high school has one, along with floats supporting sports teams and clubs.

“It’s always fun to see Blue Devil imagination and pride on display with the homecoming floats. Clearly a lot of time, effort and teamwork[is put into them],” said Gina Daleiden, Davis High alumna and former Davis School Board member.

The DHS homecoming parade has been a tradition for many years.

“Our focus on that week was definitely on the float. We put a ton of energy into the float. Every single night classes were out there working on the float and it was a very fun bonding time,” alumna Dianna Henrickson said.

Even now the homecoming floats are still a main focus of the week. Students begin to build their floats on Monday and continue working on them throughout the week. Before work can even begin however, the Student Government class must prepares for the parade.

“Student Government has been working very hard for the past couple of weeks to get ready for the parade,” Sophomore Senator Hayley Benson said.

Benson has been working with the other Sophomore Senators, Jake Goidell and Rachel Hedman, to prepare for their first float building experience.

“My goal is to create an inclusive fun project that represents us as a class […] I think it would be awesome to have a better float than both the seniors and juniors,” Hedman said.

Benson agrees. “We’ve been buckling down, getting volunteers and coming up with ideas for our float. We’re so pumped for the parade,” she said.

Last year, junior Leah Pinto led the construction crew for the sophomore class float. This year, as junior class president, she intends to do the same for the junior class float.

“Our float is Las Vegas themed so you’ll see a lot of cards and money, poker chips and dice,” Pinto said.

As an avid member of the student government class on campus, Pinto is determined to “get lots of people motivated to make the junior class float the best float.”

Senior Class President Sam Moore has been working with floats for the duration of her high school career and is excited to spend her last year at DHS working with classmates again on the senior float.

“My favorite part about float building is meeting new people and seeing the final product. It’s so fun to see the final product after a lot of hours of hard work,” she said.

However, as students compete for the title of best float, they are also faced with the task of finishing within a time constraint.

“We are only allowed to build Monday through Thursday and have to have it ready by Friday,” Pinto said.

Although homecoming can be a busy week for student government members, the results are always worth it.

“I am just remembering it will all work out in the end and I’m just grateful I get to be a part of homecoming,” Pinto said.

It has been a tradition for students to go downtown after early dismissal to watch the parade as it travels from Central Park back to DHS.

“It is just a great overall experience to ride the float throughout town with the team and be cheered on by the whole town on homecoming day,” football player and senior Connor Bunfill said.