While an early homecoming week is now fading into the distance, I’m still feeling the incredible community spirit that coursed through the week. 

As Paint the Town Red does for the college students, homecoming week has a way of taking over the town — just look at the dressing up that occurs at Blair’s in line with the school dress-up days — and giving everyone a reason to celebrate the schools.

Having kids at Parkside and the high school, I enjoyed seeing them surrounded by school spirit. From the dress-up days to the nighttime events, the Thursday volleyball and Friday night lights, the district welcomed all to help cheer on students and remind everyone just how integral the schools are to this community. 

Having grown up in a city with three big high schools, there’s nothing like seeing how a whole town rallies around the Orange and Black even, in the case of football this year, as the team struggles on the scoreboard. 

Sitting at the top of the stands, I marveled not only at the near-packed stands below, but the sea of kids running around, playing and laughing in the field behind the stands. 

I can’t recall in my own school days seeing many people with quite the level of school pride as was on display last week, and maybe that’s a testament to not only the great schools we have here, but just how well the community rallies around them.