HATers gonna hate
Cool jorts or poor sports?
“It started off as a joke and now it’s a real deal,” said junior Drew Phillips. Unimpressed, by this year’s official homecoming themes, Phillips and his friend decided to create their own. “It all started with somebody tweeting that they didn’t like the Hoco themes, and one of the cheerleaders said, ‘You guys should just give us some better ideas or do it yourself,” he said. “So I did it myself and got a couple of my buddies to do it, and now it’s a trend.” The first day of the unofficial themes was on Wednesday. While a majority of NPHS was dressed in neon colors, Phillips and his friends decided to wear hats. Today, instead of dressing like a tacky tourist, they decided to wear jorts (jeans shorts). Phillips was impressed with the turnout, saying, “There’s a lot more people today, yesterday there were only a few guys with hats, [but] there’s a lot of guys with jorts on.”
Although the boys are having fun, some argue that the unofficial themes are going against the theme of homecoming week or against the dress code. “For the themes, you can wear hats, it’s not against the dress code. [I think the bigger issue is] that they weren’t following in the spirit of homecoming week,” said junior cheerleader Hannah Armstrong. Freshman Shontelle Tidyman thought the made-up themes bring division instead of the unity that homecoming week typically produces. “They’re separating themselves from the people who did dress up for the [official] theme,” said Tidyman. Others feel that they are just looking for attention. Junior cheerleader Ainsley Thimes said, “I think they’re just looking for a reason to start trouble personally.” Phillips said his intentions were not to make anyone upset or go against the spirit of homecoming, “We were just trying to have some fun, and we accomplished our goal.”
The cheerleaders say they are always open to suggestions about the themes. Armstrong felt that the whole situation could’ve been prevented if they would have given their opinions before homecoming week.
