Fake it till you make it!

Patriots put on Fake Homecomings (FOCO) as a substitute for the real thing

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A group of senior friends gets together at Des Peres park to take a “Homecoming” picture.

Not even a pandemic could stop South students from putting on their dresses and suits, taking pictures with their friends and having some kind of a dance. 

Homecoming looked a little different this year. Instead of going out to a fancy restaurant for dinner or walking into the decked out gym to dance the night away, all grades had to settle for home basements and takeout food. Due to there being no traditional school dance, different friend groups in all different grades took it upon themselves to still have a makeshift Homecoming which was dubbed  “FOCO” or fake Homecoming.

Sophomore Hailey Singen participated in a FOCO this year.  

We took pictures at Twin Oaks and the party was at sophomore Gia Walton’s,” Singen said. 

During normal dances in non-COVID times, typically people met at a park to take pictures with their friends before getting hot and sweaty from the school’s gym and ruining the hours of hair and makeup they did to get ready. Thankfully, small groups were still able to do this and social distance at beautiful local parks like Twin Oaks and avoid the sweaty dancing until the party. 

The best part was not being stuck in a hot gym and having free range to do whatever we wanted,” said junior Nathan Mesina about his perks of doing a fake Homecoming. 

Although most students enjoy having a real Homecoming, there were still some positives to doing a FOCO. Students saved  $15  from not having to purchase a ticket, didn’t have to go through the struggle and stress of finding a date, and were able to steer clear of dancing around random people in the gym. It was a chance to do something different in these times of quarantine and social distancing. For some kids it was the first time seeing their friends since lockdown or wearing something other than t-shirts and sweatpants.

Despite all of that, senior Noah Decker said he missed the traditional Homecoming activities at South High. 

“I missed all of it kind of, like it just didn’t feel the same, it just felt like a normal party, no special vibe to it,” Decker said.