Homecoming is a time for schools to celebrate school spirit. It is for students to come together and make memories that they can cherish for years. For most schools, it’s about football. However, AGS doesn’t have a football team. Instead, our homecoming is centered around our girls varsity basketball team who played at Trinity last Friday. In the same tradition as our fellow schools, the AGS homecoming is most importantly a way for students to celebrate our sport teams, school pride, and our creativity.

Any given year, as a visitor walks through the halls of AGS during the first week of February, the first thing they notice is the bright students, who often don dull uniforms, clad in colorful costumes. And this year, homecoming week’s vibrancy was no exception. We started the week off with Meme Monday, a day for us to dress as our favorite viral videos, jokes, and concepts. Many students took this as an opportunity to dress in groups, recreating vines and memes with their friends. That was followed by Pajama Day on Tuesday, where we showed up to school in our coziest attire. After that came Way Back Wednesday, a day for us to channel the look of times past. Unlike the former grade-based theme ‘Decades Day’, Way Back Wednesday allows students to dress from time periods decades to even centuries ago. For example, Flora Smith rocked a Regency Era look based on the attire featured in Pride and Prejudice, while others opted for a more modern 90s grunge outfit instead. Thursday held the promise of Color Rush, the day our grades had been planning for the longest. This year the grades who won Color Rush were the Juniors in 3rd with pink, the 8th graders in 2nd with red, and the Seniors, who took first place. Like every year, the 12th grade class chose black to be their color and decorated the whole school with pieces of their mysterious theme, “Who Done It?”. As you walk down the stairs to the gym, you can still see their wanted posters hung along the windows. By the start of Friday, however, all of our colorful decorations had to be stripped from the walls as we celebrated Spirit Day. Spirit Day is a day for us to show our AGS pride, wearing the colors of our Earth or Sky team, and to support the girls varsity basketball team at their final home game. The varsity team lost to Cristo Rey, but we’re still incredibly proud of their achievements this season. Upon their return from Trinity, the annual Chili Cook Off was in full swing, with AGS dads bringing in their finest chili dishes for students to try. And, the next day, AGS held our Homecoming dance to wrap up the week with a final celebration.

Most students enjoyed the week and all of its festivities. Maggie, (’21) said “I love all the days. But, Pajama Day takes the cake by far”. Homecoming Week 2020 was a success and we hope to bring new themes to the week next year. Our AGS community would like to thank all of the seniors and faculty who worked to make this year’s Hoco fun and memorable. In addition, we want to thank Zoey Poole for her stylish shirt design, a memento we can keep for years to come!