On Sept. 8 at the end of the first anchor day, instead of filing into their usual homeroom locations, students from the Class of 2016 filed into the auditorium to hold their annual homecoming preparation and year-long planning meeting, hosted by the junior class council.

At the meeting, council members discussed the upcoming homecoming pep rally with the student body, reviewing what to expect, cheers for the class and the can drive and float building competitions. Despite the stress of junior year, the class of 2016 already has big plans for homecoming this year, and have been planning the class’ Musical Extravaganza (MEX) routine since early August.

In addition, more information was provided to the junior class about using standardized tests such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and American College Test (ACT) as fundraisers. This year, the Class of 2016 is also responsible for hosting the annual Pi-Miler race, which will take place on March 14 of next year.

“I felt like the class meeting was worthwhile because class council needs to update everyone on what’s happening during the year, as well as on homecoming itself,” junior Riya Raavicharla said. “The meeting did a good job of bringing everyone up to date.”

An update to traditional homecoming class competitions was also discussed during the junior class meeting, with an announcement about the replacement of the cheer portion of the class contests with a pre-taped spirit video. During the last portion of the meeting, the junior class worked on taping bits and pieces of the spirit video which will eventually be presented in competition with the other classes.

“I thought the meeting was pretty effective in getting essential information out to our class, because when we post announcements on Facebook, not everyone sees it and some class members don’t have a Facebook account to begin with,” junior Will Ryu, a coordinator of the meeting, said. “By having everyone there, I think we were more effectively able to announce all of the important information about upcoming events, especially those related to homecoming week.”