The long-awaited theme of the 2004 Homecoming Week was decided during the Student Council Retreat that was attended by 39 students representing all grade levels and which was led by Student Council Association (SCA) sponsors Ms.Karin Tooze and Ms.Christine Bosl and which took place last weekend at the Glenkirk Retreat Center in Manassas. Other issues that were discussed were the hassles of lunch and the challenges posed by the addition of the eighth graders to the high school next year.

The Homecoming theme this year will be "GMTV." Starting the Homecoming Week off will be the freshman’s choice of the History Channel, followed by Cartoon Network for the sophomores and the Weather Channel for juniors. Wrapping up the media theme week will be the seniors’ ESPN Day on Thursday and then the traditional Red and White Day on Friday. During the first four days, students are urged to dress in appropriate attire that depicts the particular television theme of the day. Counts of students wearing the theme-related outfits will be taken each day during teacher advisor period and will assist the classes in scoring points toward final awards. The Homecoming Dance will take place Saturday, October 23, 2004, with a masquerade ball theme decided by the senior class which will host the dance. In addition to deciding the more immediate questions related to Homecoming, the students on the retreat also addressed more long-range issues such as student rights and responsibilities, strengths and weaknesses of the school, and the challenges posed by expanding George Mason from a four-year high school to a five-year high school. Once the new middle school that is being constructed opens in 2005, the eighth grade will become an official class of the high school.

Amid all the fun during their two-day retreat last  weekend at the Glenkirk Retreat Center in Manassas, participants got down to some serious work. They discussed such pressing issues as student  rights and responsibilities, the impact of the addition  of the eighth grade to the high school, and also decided  on the theme for the upcoming Homecoming festivities, GMTV. (Photo by Karin Tooze)

Whether or not the eighth graders will be able to participate in homecoming was one of the issues that the 39 students on the retreat discussed. There was considerable time spent on trying to map out what privileges the eighth grade students will have. There were a lot of good ideas thrown around but in the long run the students on the SCA Retreat are not those responsible for making the final decision; they can only offer suggestions to the faculty and administration.

Other issues that were discussed were finding solutions to the parking space dilemma, senior privileges, and the need for longer lunches to allow more time to get through the line and to "chill" with friends. One idea that came out of the SCA retreat was that there should be a lunch committee established to study what the students really want. Taking into consideration the huge success of the math and writing labs, students also suggested the possibilities of having science, social studies, and language labs for students that need help.

"I feel like we were very successful at the retreat in meeting the goals we had set for ourselves," said SCA co-sponsor Ms. Tooze.