Just like every year, the first month and a half of school have been packed with activities welcoming all of Bellefonte home. The pep rally, parade, football game, and dance are all annual homecoming events that helped kick start off the 2025 school year. But, somehow all the fun has already come to an end and Bellefonte is looking forward to their last eight months of school.
The Homecoming Parade was hosted on September 25th this year, and although bad weather threatened to cancel the tradition the head of Student Council, as well as social studies and AP Psychology teacher Mrs. Christine Morris, pushed on making the event possible. Her partner for the next two years, junior Aalyn Cernuska, as Student Council President, also helped. Despite the possibility of rain, people all through Centre County still showed up to support their kids on the floats they worked to build for over a month.
“The hardest part of planning Homecoming is juggling all the moving parts. It is similar to planning a wedding but with even more details to keep track of including following state and local regulations and working with different organizations to make everything go smoothly,” Mrs. Morris said. After the parade, and the rest of the festivities, all of the student council suggests ways to improve on next year.
The Homecoming football game is a huge attraction for Raider Nation at Bellefonte. Raider Nation, or the student section you see at different sporting events, doubles in size on Homecoming night. The best theme is saved for this night, which is often USA. To make matters even more exciting, Bellefonte was able to play the Curtin Bowl on this night, where they faced our biggest rivals, Bald Eagle. Although they lost 14-19, Bellefonte put up a strong fight, and never let Bald Eagle pull away too far.
“We kept reminding the kids we were in the game all night,” Head Coach Confer said. Next year they plan on winning back the Curtin Bowl by expecting total commitment in offseason training from their players. They have “confidence” the team will be better next year.
What is meant to be the biggest attraction of homecoming is the dance, and although it is sometimes overshadowed by the excitement for the game, the Student Council always puts on a beautiful display. It is always hosted in the cafeteria where snacks and water are offered, as well as a low lit dance floor with a DJ taking requests all night!
“My favorite song was the 6-7 song,” senior Logan Blevins said. Even though he won’t be there next year, he suggests the Student Council should change up the location.
The dance had competition with the Penn State White-Out game this year, and had to be moved to the weekend after the game and parade, which can hurt the flow of the events. The Student Council was able to advertise the event enough that word of the change reached all corners of the school, and people were able to plan accordingly, helping with the choppy schedule.
“My favorite part of the dance was seeing everyone’s dresses and getting to talk to friends,” Junior Claire Brownson said, who was not able to go last year, making her quite excited to dance this year.
To nobody’s surprise, homecoming was a blast as usual. Although there were a couple of scares along the way at the start of the year, with the interference of the White-Out game, and the possible cancellation of the parade, it all came together in the end. Bellefonte is already looking forward to next year’s fiesta!
