Students participating in Baldwin’s homecoming activities week were drawn into a web of Spider-Man themed events that represented a reboot of sorts for the annual festivities.
One event that the senior class came up with was a movie night on the football field, which students could attend for free and bring their own food and blankets. The movie, Spider-Man: Homecoming, which was the inspiration for the dance’s theme, was played as a way to unite students and bring everyone together for a night full of friends and memories.
Junior Una Banovic enjoyed the movie and thought it was a cool experience.
“It was fun. I got to hang out with my friends and do something different,” she said.
The car smash, which occurred on the same day as the movie night, raised $100 for the junior class. Students could pay one dollar to hit a car with a bat, golf club, or sledgehammer.
Another unique idea replaced the typical school spirit day with students dressing up as memes instead. It provided a more modern twist on the traditional activities that come with the week of Homecoming.
Senior Jamie DiLeonardo participated in meme day by dressing up as “Joanne the Scammer.”
“My friends really inspired me to dress up as Joanne the Scammer,” DiLeonardo said. “When the meme was popular, we used to call each other ‘scammers’ when we did something shady. Also, I just really look like Joanne the Scammer.”
DiLeonardo thought the day turned out well and reached the intended goal of getting students involved in a humorous way.
“I loved the idea of having meme day. We came up with the idea in one of our senior class meetings. We thought the whole school could have fun dressing up as their favorite Internet memes,” DiLeonardo said.
The annual homecoming carnival was cancelled due to inclement weather. However, the rainy week didn’t prevent students from getting dressed up and enjoying the Homecoming dance.
At the dance, seniors Leila Crawford and Frank Owusu were chosen as senior homecoming queen and king.
The Spider-Man theme was incorporated into the dance through decorations of webs as well as red and blue colors. Senior Adam Jackson even took the theme into consideration when deciding what to wear to the dance, as he showed up in a full Spider-man costume.
“What really inspired it was that this is my senior year. I’m going to look back on this and think, `Wow I was cool’. It was really my peaking moment,” he said.