From the red, white and blue on Monday to the sport jerseys on Thursdays, homecoming dress up week is back again this year with a new focus – the 60th anniversary of Coppell ISD. 

Homecoming week is an opportunity for a high school’s alumni to visit their old stomping grounds, to see the teacher, old friends and community they left behind. It is also a way for the school as a community to celebrate school pride and commemorate as one. From seeing a teacher wearing a tie dye shirt on Tuesday or greeting yet another friend with a mum on Friday, homecoming dress-up week is about unity and building relationships as a whole.

For Coppell High School senior STUCO officer Tharani Muthukumar, HOCO dress-up week is a way to add joy to the school and connect students, new and old, together. 

“Everyone is swamped with academics, athletics, extracurriculars or with resume work and HOCO dress up week is a great way for students to bond and realize at the end of the day they are teenagers that can have fun and be there for their friends, either in the hallway with their shirt or at the football game,” Muthukumar said. 

The union of school spirit has encouraged students to join in on school pride and excite the upcoming football game.

“It’s a great way to have fun with my friends and support my school,” CHS junior Preethi Jayaraman said. “My friends and I plan to wear our themed clothes on a certain day and it makes us happy when we see each other in the hallways.”

Yet themes behind the dress-up week are a story of collaboration and excitement of their own. 

“There is a student council period for officers of different grades to come together, and within the period the officers come up with themes and then share them with [student council] members during the meetings,” CHS student council advisor Jonathan Denton said. “The team building and preparation of the week’s themes is a process, but it grows people closer together.”

From the camaraderie within a single shirt to the audience at the football game, HOCO dress-up week is an opportunity for CHS to stop for a moment and celebrate their school together.

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