Warm air turns into a cold breeze, green leaves turn into bright oranges and reds. These are the signs of the end of the summer vacation and the beginning of the fall school year.  October is here, and that means Homecoming is right around the corner. There are a lot of changes being made to this year’s dance and the preparations leading up to the date. From the dance theme to the homecoming float competition, this year is going to be entirely different.

“This year is ‘Glowcoming,’ so it’s going to be cooler [than last year,]” senior and head of the homecoming dance committee Joey Cronin said. “We’re going to have black lights; there’s going to be neon stuff, [and] we might have a photo booth.” With the new theme, the leadership class is hoping to have a greater turnout than past years and get the student body excited for the upcoming event.

This year, there will be no school Friday or the following Monday of homecoming weekend. Due to these holidays, students can look forward to the weekend’s events with little stress of schoolwork or deadlines.

“This year’s homecoming is going to be a lot of fun,” junior Thomas Sherrier said. “It’s on a four day weekend so nobody will be stressed about school work and can have a great time.”

This year, some of the events are scheduled differently than in previous years. Both the pep rally and the homecoming parade will be held on Thursday, Oct. 8, rather than Friday. Taste of Chantilly, as well as the homecoming game, will still take place on Friday, Oct. 9.

“One positive thing is that students can sleep in and be well rested for Taste of Chantilly and the football game on Friday,” leadership and business teacher Melissa Guerro said.

Students and faculty members are expecting a larger attendance for this year’s events than past years. All these changes are in hopes that students will be excited and more prepared for the celebrations of Homecoming.

“I think having no school game day is going to allow more people to come to Taste of Chantilly and the [homecoming] game,” Sherrier said. “This way there won’t be interference with after school sports and clubs so everybody can come make it out. I think it will really improve attendance to everything and make it a bigger success.”

The changes of homecoming week are not limited to just the event days and theme . A huge difference for the school this year is the loss of the graduated Class of 2015. The previous dominating class has won the homecoming float competition every year. With the students gone this year, it finally gives the other classes a chance to win.

“I know our class [2017] and the senior class [2016] are really working hard to try and win this year, and it’s going to make some really great floats. The underclassmen are bringing new competition, and I think it’s going to be a good parade,” Sherrier said. “The past years with the Class of 2015, they built some really good floats and were really dedicated, and we’ve learned from them and our own mistakes and are ready to build some really good floats this year.”

With all these changes and differences, this year’s homecoming dance will be a new experience for returning Chargers as well as the Class of 2019.