Gorham High School (GHS) held its annual homecoming the week of September 30 to kick off the 2019-2020 school year. The week included spirit days which many students and teachers participated in.

“There was more participation in spirit week than there has been in the past,” said Maeve Higgins, GHS student council president and a student council member for four years.

Monday was “Dress Like a Mainer” day, and many students wore flannels and UGG or L.L. Bean boots. Tuesday was a “Pink Out” in support of Breast Cancer. Wednesday was “Decade Day,” in which students dressed like someone anywhere from the 50s to the pres-
ent. Thursday was “Stars and Stripes Forever,” where students and teachers wore Red, White, and Blue. The day was a hit.

Friday was “Wear Your Class Color Day” and culminated with a pep rally at the end of the school day. Freshman and sophomores wore black, juniors wore maroon, and seniors wore white.

At the pep rally, sports teams shared how their teams were doing as well as fun relay races that student council members and teachers participated in. The first race was students versus students. Teams had to participate in a three-legged race in which they had to get to the other side of the court and shoot a basketball from anywhere on the court.

This was then followed by a wheelbarrow walk to the opposing side to shoot the basketball into the hoop from the three-pointer line. Seniors Samuel Orlando and Wesley Brinegar won the race.

Next was a teacher versus teacher race followed by a race between the winners of both races. Teacher team Laughn Berthiaume and Neile Nelson, math teachers at GHS, won both the teacher versus teacher race and the student versus teacher race.

Most fall teams played during homecoming week and the sports week was capped off with a varsity football homecoming game on Friday night against South Portland.

“The team played their hearts out. We could not ask more of them in terms of hustle, heart, and desire,” said Andy Hager, head coach of the GHS football team. “I am tremendously proud of the boys and we look forward to the rest of our season.”

“The football game was a blast,” said Ryan Watts, one of the assistant principals at GHS. Despite their hard efforts, Gorham fell short by three points. The night ended with a fireworks show.

Homecoming week came to an end with the homecoming dance on Saturday night, which had a great turnout with over 500 students in attendance.

“Students really dressed up and it was fun to see everyone have a good time,” said Watts. Ben Nault and Bruce Wyatt (GHS ’19) revisited for the night as DJs for the dance.

“I believe that the outcome of this dance was one of our most successful ones. People really enjoyed the DJs. We are very proud of what we were able to accomplish this year,” said Higgins.

The student council had been planning this year’s homecoming since the summer, meeting on a regular basis to get everything in place and make sure that everyone enjoyed the week.

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