Homecoming starts Monday

Get your Wildcat pride on, grab your purple and gold and celebrate homecoming with Custer Jr/Sr High School Sept. 15-19.
“Homecoming is all about being a community. It gives people the opportunity to recognize and celebrate the people they are currently sharing their life with or reconnect with people they used to share their life with. It’s about knowing where you came from and acknowledging how it impacts the direction your life can take. Homecoming is a great way to show pride in your community, school and yourself,” said high school student council advisor Megan Hanis.
Homecoming happenings kick off Monday, Sept. 15 with the coronation in the high school theater at 7 p.m. There, the homecoming court will be introduced and the king and queen will be crowned. 
This year, Emarsyn Jaure and Cheydon McPhee are the freshmen royalty, Olivia Welch and Zane Gunnell are the sophomore royalty and Jaelynn Arcuragi and Paul Warnke are the junior royalty.
The homecoming queen candidates are Kylee Ellerton, Hailey Woodward, Lyncoln Robb and Madisyn Lent, and the homecoming king candidates are Kian Rusch, Riley Scott, Brady Virtue and Xander Dinius. 
All week, ‘Class Wars’ will be fought for the best school spirit. One way, classes gain points is through the class games at the end of each day. Monday is dodgeball, Tuesday is capture the flag, Wednesday is Tug of war and Thursday is musical chairs. Representatives from each class will participate.
Another way to earn points is by participating in the dress up days. On Sept. 15, the theme is class colors. Staff will wear black, seniors will wear blue, juniors will wear red, sophomores will wear green, freshmen will wear pink, eighth graders will wear yellow and seventh graders will wear orange. For Sept. 16, the theme is gender swap, and Sept. 17, the theme is rhyme without reason. 
Then, Sept. 18 is Throwback Thursday, and each group has been assigned a decade. Staff will dress for the future while seniors will bring back the 00s, juniors the 90s, sophomores the 80s, freshmen the 70s and seventh and eighth graders the 60s.
Finally, everyone will don purple and gold for the festivities Friday, Sept. 19. The lip sync competition is  at 9 a.m. in the high school theater. Each grade along with staff will perform to  earn participation points. Senior games will follow, and a lunch of hamburgers and hotdogs will be provided for the students. Students will head to the pep rally after lunch. 
The homecoming parade through town is set to start at 1:30 p.m., and community members are encouraged to come out and show their support. 
“One of the absolute best things Custer has to offer is its community support.   Since moving to Custer, I have been amazed at all the different ways that the members of the Custer community show up for each other and especially for the students. They give these students so much time, money and love. The community is always there ready to support students and given them what they need. The homecoming parade is a way for the students to say ‘Thank you’ and do something in return,” said Hanis.
The parade will start on 8th Street near Lynn’s Dakotamart before turning onto Mt. Rushmore Road. It will continue down Mt. Rushmore Road until 2nd Street. From there, the students will head back to school. 
This year, the student council decided on a holiday theme for the parade. Assignments were drawn from a hat, and seventh grade will have a Christmas float, eighth grade will have a Thanksgiving float, the freshmen will have an Independence Day float,  sophomores will have a New Years float, juniors will have an Easter float,  seniors will have a Mardi Gras float and Hermosa will have a Halloween float. 
Throughout the week, the students and community members can also support the Wildcats in a variety of home games
On Tuesday, Sept. 16, the Wildcat soccer team is facing the Hot Springs Bison at the Custer soccer field at 5 p.m. Following that game, fans can head to the Armory for a varsity volleyball game at 7 p.m. against the St. Thomas More Cavaliers. 
On Thursday, Sept. 18, the Wildcats are hosting the Eldon Knudson Custer Invitational at Rocky Knolls Golf Course. The varsity race kicks off at 2 p.m.
Then, Friday, Sept. 19, the Wildcats will face the St. Thomas More Cavaliers for a home football game at 6 p.m.
The winner of the ‘Class Wars’ will be announced at the football game during halftime of the game, and the king and queen will light the “C” on fire on the opposite end of the of the field. 
There will be a high school homecoming dance to follow the football game at the high school. The cost is $3 per student or $5 per couple. 
One new addition to homecoming is a suicide awareness activity that is being organized across South Dakota. On Thursday, Sept. 18, students will be decorating sidewalks as part of the “Chalk the Walk” event. 
“This event was brought to our attention by our new assistant principal, Clay Cates. The students decided it was important enough to warrant time during our week of celebration. Many students have been impacted by suicide in one way or another. This allows them to show love for those that have passed as well as, hopefully, help others understand that they are important and loved,” said Hanis.