There is no place like home. That’s what Dorothy told us in “The Wizard of Oz.”

But there’s no place like homecoming, either. And Stratford students will be in for a treat next week after the Student Leadership Board announced the homecoming themes at Monday morning’s assembly.

 The overall theme for homecoming this year is “There’s No Place like Home-coming!”  Each day students will be allowed to dress up—appropriately —as the theme of the day. Students not dressed up as the theme need to be in uniform.

Monday’s theme is “Home-Body,” and students can wear PJs. There will be no break activity due to Monday morning assembly.

Tuesday’s theme is ” Home-Game vs. Home-Schooled,” and students can dress up as either a “Mathlete” or an “Athlete”. There will be the annual tag competition and a free throw competition in the Grady during break.

 Wednesday’s theme is “Home-theater.” Students can dress up as their favorite movie or tv show character. The break activity will be movie trivia in the Prentice Robinson Cafeteria.

 Thursday’s theme is “Far from Home,” and students dress up as “anything but human!” From aliens to dogs, cardboard boxes to robots, you can dress as literally anything but a human. We will be playing a game of ships and sailors in the Grady during break.

Friday is “Nursery vs. Nursing Home,” which will be a class competition day. Upperclassmen (Juniors and Seniors) will dress as babies, and underclassmen (freshmen and sophomores) can dress up as the elderly. We have the 2019 Stratford Hall of Fame assembly on Friday, so there will be no break activity, but we will announce the winning class of homecoming during lunch!

This year, SLB is doing grade-level competitions for the whole week of homecoming. Whichever grade “wins” homecoming will get a dress down day and donuts in homeroom! Students can get points for their grade by winning break activities, dressing up each day, and winning Powder Puff. Each day there will also be a costume contest.

This year, SLB is excited to be bringing back the homecoming dance! It will be held on Saturday, September 21 at Idle Hour Country Club from 8 to 10 p.m. The theme is “A Night in the Emerald City.” There will be a “DJ, glow sticks, and a good time,” according to SLB advisors Ms. Kinsey Peterson and Mr. Stephen O’Hara. SLB will also be raffling off door prizes at the dance with fun prizes such as a “Get Out of Demerit Free Card.”

Instead of date walls, SLB is making Hoco Walls this year. People can sign up with a date or as a group, and it is stressed that students do not need a date to attend the dance. The Hoco Walls will be posted in the upper school office until Friday, so students have a week to sign up! Everyone is welcome and encouraged to come!

Many students are looking forward to homecoming this year. Junior Lila McCord said she is “looking forward to Monday because [she gets] to wear [her] pajamas.” She said it “will be nice to just get up and go to school.”

Juniors Jocelyn Tang and Sabina Ajjan think the new grade competitions “will make [Homecoming Week] more fun and competitive,” and they are “a good way to get all the grades involved and work together and to get everyone pumped throughout the week.”