Laughs shared and memories made

Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton’s 2022 homecoming week was a little different from those in the past. This year, the annual celebration of Bulldog pride occurred near the middle of October–later than the usual homecoming in September or very early October. Perhaps because this year’s fall sports was pushed back by the relatively late (Sept. 6) start of school,  the homecoming football game was on a Thursday while volleyball took the Friday spot. (Check out this week’s sports page for results.)

Following the coronation and crowning of Queen Jessa Westphal and King Jack Cahill, JWP celebrated homecoming with four days of dressing up like soccer moms, in various colors depending on the grade, and as surfer dudes. Activities such as FFA Fall Fun Day and lunch karaoke made the week even more entertaining for the students.

But the pep fest was what had everyone’s spirits high Friday, October 14. Starting at 1:15 p.m., the JWP pep band welcomed fans into the high school gym with classics like “Hey Baby.”

The first activity was a game of “Musical Chairs,” with Spanish and English teacher Jessica Oelke providing commentary and 2022 graduate Cory Scrabeck supplying the music playlist. About six or seven students from each grade participated, with bragging rights as the prize. Oelke and Jessica Keenan acted as referees to prevent the participants from cheating by stopping the circle from moving, sitting down prematurely, or placing hands on chairs.

A few of the students, especially the boys, took the game seriously. Girls were eliminated early, with Sophomore Paige Walz as one of the final female holdouts. The final two competitors were senior Nick Johnson and junior Cole Schlueter, with Schlueter taking the win.

Boys’ volleyball had four matches, with the seniors facing off against the freshmen and the juniors facing the sophomores. Each match was six minutes, or whoever got to 25 first. The seniors easily defeated the freshmen while the sophomores won a close match against the juniors.

A third-place match took place afterward, with the juniors squeaking a win. The championship matchup between the sophomores and seniors was extended to eight minutes. The sophomores scored a dozen straight before the senior boys found a way to get points on the board. Despite a valiant comeback effort, the sophomores held on to win the volleyball tournament among the four grades.

With such great matchups in volleyball, the football games were sadly cut short. Both games played between the four grades went into overtime. The seniors won the first game 7-0 while the juniors won via a rock, paper, scissors tiebreaker. As the time came for the spirit walk, Oelke declared the seniors as winners because the juniors “took too long to get on the court.”

The spirit walk took place about 2:45 p.m. Members of the homecoming court led the walk, accompanied by the cross country, football, and volleyball teams who handed out candy to the elementary students while circling the perimeter of the school.

Although the football and volleyball games may have not gone the Bulldogs’ way, 2022 homecoming was one to remember with many laughs shared and memories made.