In a burst of community spirit, Grayslake North held its annual Homecoming parade, showcasing the vibrant energy of the staff and students.
Golf carts were personally decorated by students and their clubs. Clubs and students marched down the parking lot and track from 4:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. before the game Friday.
“Students worked with either their coach or their sponsors to kind of come up with a theme, order decorations, and then on Thursday they all met after school from 3:30 to 4:30 and decorated,” said Student Council sponsor Ashley Kopecky.
The Homecoming parade featured golf carts, marching bands, sports teams, and various student organizations parading through the school to celebrate school spirit and unity.
“The parade is full of golf carts with all the sports and activities here at North,” said senior Meadow Ptak.
This year the Student Council tried to switch up the parade’s route from previous years by going through the nearby neighborhoods, but they were told no.
“Originally we were going to go through, I think it’s called Normandy Woods. And then we were also going to cut through Chesapeake Farms. That was kind of a large neighborhood that would have had to close down a lot of streets for homeowners. So we kind of felt bad and we were just going to go through Normandy Woods, but then we were told we couldn’t do it,” said activities director Keeley Naughton.
For this year’s parade, community participation was evident as families and friends gathered along the parade route, cheering and waving in support. The sense of unity was evident as the community came together to celebrate the pride they feel for Grayslake North.
“Yeah, so we have community members such as some of our feeder programs like the Junior Knights. We have some of our athletic teams, some of our clubs, and our administration participate. The football team, the marching band and anyone that wanted to be in it just had to fill out a Google form and then they got a golf cart, and they could be a part of it,” Naughton said.
