By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES – School spirit will be at its fullest this week as students and staff at Niles High School are celebrating fall homecoming.
Red filled the hallways of the school Monday as it kicked off the first day of a busy, fun-filled week. "Stop the Bears" was the theme of the day, where students and faculty were encouraged to wear red. The Niles varsity football team will host St. Joseph Friday night for the big homecoming game.
Today, students will get to relive their childhood as it's "Dress like a kid day." The Powder Puff football game will also be held this evening on the football practice field beginning at 6 p.m.
Every wonder what it's like to fake an injury or wear a huge cast? "Fake and injury day" is Wednesday, which is sure to bring out some pretty funny, and painful, costumes.
Thursday is "Decade Day." The theme of this year's homecoming is Decades, and each grade was assigned a different decade from the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s. Students will get a chance to dress up in attire from those decades, depending on which year their class was assigned.
Friday is "Spirit Day," where the blue and gold (or yellow, in most cases) colors can be seen for miles.
The annual homecoming parade will take place Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. It will start at the parking lot at Niles High School where the buses line up, travel down 14th Street to Sycamore, up Sycamore to 17th Street and down 17th Street to the high school.
The parade gives students at Eastside Elementary and Ring Lardner Middle School a chance to see the well-decorated floats put together by each class.
A pep rally will follow the parade in the high school gymnasium.
For those planning to attend Friday night's game, all the floats will be on display.
Also, the crowning of the Homecoming Royalty will take place at halftime, as well as the Spirit Stick Award, which is given to the class who has shown the most spirit throughout the week. Classes are judged on the number of students who participate in the week's events, how well the floats are decorated and which class has shown the most school spirit.
The week will wrap up with a homecoming dance after the game, which is being sponsored by the sophomore class.
Come out and support the Niles Vikings this Friday at 7:30 p.m. as they take on the Bears of St. Joseph.