Log in

Hoopcoming rolls out the red carpet

Posted 1/25/23

Campus will be buzzing with school spirit next week as Fountain Hills High School celebrates Hoopcoming. Student Government (STUGO) has planned several events and themes for each day leading up to …

You must be a member to read this story.

Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.


Already have an account? Log in to continue.

Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here

Otherwise, follow the link below to join.

To Our Valued Readers –

Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.

For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.

Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.

Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.

Sincerely,
Charlene Bisson, Publisher, Independent Newsmedia

Please log in to continue

Log in
I am anchor

Hoopcoming rolls out the red carpet

Posted

Campus will be buzzing with school spirit next week as Fountain Hills High School celebrates Hoopcoming. Student Government (STUGO) has planned several events and themes for each day leading up to the “Red Carpet” dance on Saturday, Feb. 4.

Like Homecoming week during the fall, Hoopcoming brings together the whole student body around the winter sports teams, especially basketball. Both boys and girls basketball teams play their final home game of the season on Thursday, Feb. 2, and they only have two more regular season games after the Hoopcoming dance.

“It’s a way to unite the student body,” STUGO Athletic Coordinator and starting center senior Luke Bloedel said. “It’s right before playoffs, so it makes sure everyone is on the same page that we have playoffs coming up. It brings everybody together and gets our school spirit up.”

Themes start on Monday, Jan. 30, with “anything but a backpack” day, and students can use suitcases and other means to bring their supplies to school. Then on Tuesday, Jan. 31, the students will dress up like it’s the early 2000s for “2000s day.”

Students will pick sides between cowboys/farmers and preppy tennis players/golfers on Wednesday, Feb. 1, for “country vs. country club day.” STUGO will also host its first bonfire since the pandemic on Wednesday night, starting at 6:30 p.m.

“We’re starting to get back in the swing of things,” Bloedel said. "We’re starting to get back to doing things for the school and that’s really exciting that we’re starting a tradition again.”

STUGO will receive assistance from the Fire Department with the bonfire, and it will take place in front of the school in the parking lot. That event will bleed over into Thursday’s pep rally assembly, when students get hyped up for their final regular-season home game against Scottsdale Christian Academy on Feb. 2.

Students will wear class colors on Thursday for the pep rally. Freshmen will wear yellow, sophomores will wear red, juniors will wear green and seniors will wear orange.

The last theme is “celebrity day” on Friday, Feb. 3. Students can dress as their favorite pop star or actor/actress to close out Hoopcoming week, and they will still have one more event after the dance, too.

Football players coached girls in powderpuff football during Homecoming week, and now it’s the volleyball players’ turn to coach the boys. The first round of buffpuff volleyball will be on Wednesday, Feb. 8, from 5-7 p.m., and the championships will be during school lunch on Thursday, Feb. 9.

Buffpuff was delayed to the week after Hoopcoming because of conflicting sport schedules. The classes will battle for bragging rights, and the seniors take on the freshmen in the first round. The winner will challenge the winner between the sophomores and juniors at lunch on Thursday.

The junior class representatives in STUGO planned the themes and other events around Hoopcoming. There will not be a king and queen, or a court of any kind, but spirits will be high. The girls basketball team has played well recently, and the boys have a perfect 17-0 record and are No. 2 in state rankings at the time of writing.