In the Cherry Creek School District, homecoming is much more than just an opportunity to welcome alumni back to their high school. In fact, homecoming at CCSD’s six traditional high schools is a week-long, community-wide celebration that involves past, present, and even future students. Case in point: the Spirit Bus.
On Sept. 20, students at elementary and middle schools that feed into Cherokee Trail High School eagerly awaited the arrival of the CTHS Spirit Bus, or to be more accurate, Spirit Buses. At Infinity Middle School, the entire sixth-grade class lined the sidewalk outside the school and cheered as several school buses rolled up and dropped off dozens of high-energy high schoolers decked out in CT burgundy and blue. Among them was senior Anna Camargo, who has fond memories of the Spirit Bus.
“Something I always loved when I experienced the Spirit Bus when I was younger was just seeing the big kids and seeing how happy they all are to be together and to be coming to our school,” she said.
The Spirit Bus bunch included the pep band, spirit squad, student athletes from all the sports offered at CT, students representing myriad school clubs, and of course, the school mascot, Felix the Cougar.
There were fist bumps and high fives as the high school students paraded past the sixth- and seventh-grade classes gathered outside the school, then headed into the gym for an impromptu pep rally with the eighth-grade class.
Infinity Principal Diana Price said the spirit bus event is exciting and inspiring, as it gives her students a glimpse of what their future could hold.
“It gets them revved up and pumped up and shows them the potential of what they can experience when they go to high school,” Price said. “They see who they can be, whether they want to be the drummer or the football player or the dancer or the cheerleader or the person leading the band. They can find themselves in so many of those high school students who visit us.”
Each of CCSD’s six traditional high schools schedule Spirit Bus stops at all their feeder elementary and middle schools on a single day during homecoming week. Though each stop takes less than 30 minutes, the visits have a big impact on the younger students.
“I thought it was actually really cool,” Infinity eighth-grader Riley Harmon said. “You can see the cheerleaders, the football players, the wrestlers, and they just put on a little show and say ‘Hi!’ to everybody.”
“I’m really excited for the high school experience, to be honest with you,” eighth-grader Joseph Turner added.
According to Camargo and her fellow Cougars, that’s the whole point.
“They’re going to be us one day and they’re going to be in our community. We just want them to grow up like that and look forward to coming to Cherokee Trail,” she said.
Happy Homecoming, Cougars!
Posted 9/23/2022.
