Students at Mount Si High School are working hard to make their biggest connection to the community of the school year during homecoming.

Emily Beekman and fellow members of the Homecoming and Assemblies committee of the ASB, or Associated Student Body, at Mount Si have been working hard since the summer to prepare for homecoming. The homecoming football game, against Sammamish, is 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16. The homecoming dance follows on Saturday night at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge.

Both events will include two fireworks blasts, lighting up the night downtown and on the Ridge. Five minutes of football fireworks will go off about 8 p.m.

Friday, while the second 10-minute fireworks show will take place about 9:45 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17.

Fireworks are a tradition for Mount Si, Beekman said. The sound and color draw a lot of locals and alumni to the game.

“It’s my senior year,” she said. “It’s been here since I’ve been here.”

Students will be canvassing a six-block radius around the high school and the TPC before the big booms.

Last year, that effort was a courtesy to let people know what was happening. This time, students want to invite the town.

“We’re going to say you’re welcome to come watch,” said senior Natalie Nelson, fireworks chairperson for ASB.

“We want families to come,” Beekman added. “That’s big for us.”

Voting and spirit

New for this year is a homecoming pep assembly before the game. Homecoming king and queen will be crowned at the game.

Voting for homecoming royals took place two weeks ago, with senior, junior, sophomore and freshman princes and princesses written in by the student body. Those with the most votes get crowns or sashes. Final voting, for the senior king and queen, took place Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Spirit days go through Friday. Students already showed their spirit at pajama day on Monday, tie die day on Tuesday, and superhero day on Wednesday. Thursday, Oct. 15, hearkens back to the days of grunge with 90s day, and Friday is class colors day.

Service payoff

Charlie Kinnune, ASB faculty advisor, said the payoff from all the hard work students put in for homecoming sometimes doesn’t come home until much later.

“They want a nice school, they want a community that is proud of what we do here,” Kinnune said. “They put in a lot of time that people don’t see.”

It’s hard to please everyone, and Kinnune said, and comments aren’t always positive. But, ultimately, the payoff is an intrinsic sense of service.

“We’re trying to graduate a group of students every year that feel a sense of service, of giving back,” Kinnune said. “We celebrate and talk a lot about servant-leaders. By the time they graduate, I hope they have a real sense of service and community.”