Sep. 23, 2024 -- Homecoming weekend was a great success in Tiger Nation.

It started with a rousing pep rally at the high school on Friday afternoon, followed by a parade of more than one thousand marchers. Teams, clubs, groups and entire schools marched along the one-mile route from Scarborough Road near Fairfax School to Heights High, waving and tossing candy to the many spectators, old and young, who lined the streets.

With performance stops for the alumni gathered outside The Wine Spot and again for the judges closer to the high school, groups sang, danced and shot beach balls into a giant lacrosse stick. The Best in Parade trophy, as judged by Superintendent Elizabeth Kirby, Heights High Principal Dr. Brandon Towns, Options Principal Dr. Brian Williams, and high school Dean of Students Willie Newton, went to the Fairfax Ghostbusters for the second year in a row.

Canterbury came is second, with a Taylor Swift-inspired float, t-shirts that read “In My Tigers Era” and their own original lyrics to Swift’s song “Me!” Both the Vocal Music Department, highlighting their fall production of Big Fish: The Musical, and Boulevard’s Lego-people, who were Building Unity in the Boulevard Community, earned Honorable Mentions.

Following a tailgate sponsored by Heights Athletic Boosters with food trucks, swag tables, and yard games, the crowd headed to the stadium for a football victory over Brunswick, 20 to 17. 

Saturday brought the cross country team’s sole home meet, the McDonough Invitational, with 36 schools and more than 750 runners participating. Tigers won three of the four major races, with junior Alex Burke coming in first in the boys’ varsity race, freshman Jayda Davis in first for girls’ varsity, and 7th grader Blaise Lilly winning the girls’ middle school race.

That night, 500 high schoolers got decked out in their finest to enjoy the Homecoming Dance, Hollywood Nights. 

Photos from the parade, football game and cross country meet can be seen here, here, here, and here.