It was magic!

W
hen you feel it, you know. After a truly challenging couple of weeks at Newcastle High School, Homecoming Week feels like a paradigm shift.
School spirit ran high last week at NHS. Dress up days were on point, the evening activities had great participation, and cowbell day was a huge hit, to put it lightly.
I can’t remember the last year I have seen so many students really embrace Homecoming and participate in the fun.
The juniors and seniors competed in the Powder Buff volleyball game and the Powder Puff football game, while the freshmen and sophomores had a go at each other in dodgeball. Students and staff/parents faced off in basketball, trivia night was a success, there was a rousing pep rally and then a fun-filled Mock Olympics competition to close out the week.
Student Council, Sources of Strength, sponsors and parents worked so hard to promote the fun and kids responded.
Cowbell Day was the dream of now senior Avery Chick for two years, and through the Sources of Strength group it finally came to fruition and, man, was it a hit.
My room was a cowbell distribution center and I had students coming into my room requesting bells all morning on Friday. In order to get a bell, the students had to tell me about a healthy activity they took part in regularly. It didn’t have to be a physical activity, just one that they did to help themselves.
The other distribution rooms had students identifying mentors and positive friends in their lives. 
We burned through about 300 bells by lunchtime and it was hard to find a student, or teacher, walking the halls without at least one around their neck. 
The school spirit was strong at both the Homecoming football game and volleyball game. The pep band was in the stands at Schoonmaker Field, cowbells could be heard ringing throughout the game, and for the first time in a while, we burned the N at halftime. 
To that end, the Newcastle Volunteer Fire Department was on hand to not only manage the burning of the N, but also to provide hype following the three touchdowns scored by the Dogies in their exciting win over the Tongue
River Eagles.
The Lady Dogies won their match against a longtime rival, the Lady Trailblazers of Torrington. It was a battle and a contest made for fans as they took the win in four sets.
And, wow, we had great fans both inside the gym and out at the field!
All of the activities made for a pretty special week, but what made it even more so was that the kids, pretty universally across the many different peer groups, all thought it was the best Homecoming Week NHS has experienced in a long time. 
And, they were all pretty excited to have been a part of it and proud to show their school spirit. 
I’m even seeing that spirit carry into this week. Though the festivities are over, I am feeling pretty hopeful that the magic of Homecoming will linger and that more good things are on the horizon for the Dogies.