Coming down Ames High Drive on Monday morning at 5:30 a.m. was surprising to most members of the girls’ swim team, being the first to see the TP-ing job by Ames High seniors and juniors who participated in the event. “The school had given us permission ahead of time, so [the toilet paper] wasn’t a huge surprise to the staff and teachers, but it still was a lot of fun,” said senior Maddie Andersen. Thus Homecoming 2010 started with a bang. Ames High Homecoming is a week-long celebration of being a Little Cyclone. Social gatherings and activities like assemblies, the parade downtown, themed clothing days, the “King and Queen” coronation, and of course, the big game on Friday night, are all meant to increase school spirit. The annual recurrence of Homecoming can be, well, repetitive. However, this year’s Homecoming was different from those of past years. “This year I think a lot was focused on details,” said senior and co-coordinator of weekly activities, Charlotte Quant. “The senior co-chairs did a really good job of divvying out the tasks, and it was all very organized and easy to follow.” One rather large change made to this year’s schedule was replacing “Battle of the Bands” with a tailgate on Tuesday night in the Ames High parking lot. The Grill-Out was “an activity where everyone can come and be together, underclassmen and upperclassmen! It’s a great way to participate in homecoming week and be around your friends,” Quant explained. In addition, this year’s Homecoming Committee decided to add a new theme to the themed clothing days line-up. “-ER Day” was the chosen theme to replace the “Class Color Day”. -ER Day is a day that brings variation and almost limitless opportunity to the Tuesday of Homecoming Week because students could dress up as anything that ends in “-er” (or any homonym, as some students chose). One student’s vision stood out from the rest, and, perhaps, she took ER Day to the next level. Junior Rachel Shriver’s vision was entitled “Pregger Mother”. “People were thinking about being a farmer or a biker, or something that’s an ‘actual job’, but being a mom is like a full-time job,” said Shriver. “24 hours a day and seven days a week. I mean, that’s a lot. And because I’m a ‘Pregger’, it’s intense.” Dressed in a “common mom outfit”, Shriver’s costume included comfortable sweats, a “mom purse”, flip-flops, sunglasses, a lack of make-up, and a balloon for a belly. Shriver’s outfit stood out amongst others who participated. “When [Shriver] walked into my class [Tuesday] morning, I had to stop one of my ninth graders who was presenting a project so my class and I could take a break and laugh at her,” said teacher Ginny Seibert, who dressed up as Harry Potter. “Rachel’s outfit was impressive.” Getting attention wasn’t the only reason why Shriver chose to be a “Pregger Mother”. Letting others know that being a mother is hard work was also a part of her decision. “People think that stay-at-home moms are lazy, but it’s a huge job, and most people don’t think it is,” said Shriver. She has definitely felt the pain. “I am worn out. Even though it’s just a balloon, being a ‘Pregger Mother’ is hard work. Just getting into my car was like, ‘Move the chair back…’ and walking around is hard, too,” she said. -ER Day has definitely shown the creativity of students at Ames High. From dressing up as a “Mad-Hatter” to rebelling and going as “fier” or a calculat or , Ames High students have some spunk. “It looks like my closet threw up on me,” said junior “Hipster” Katrina Henderson. Tuesday was a fun day in that students got to share their ideas, and even more so because the girls’ swim team defeated the Valley Tigers for the first time in school history!