From November 2009:
Chamblee High School has plenty of traditions. From the color of class t-shirts to the decoration of class hallways, the school’s traditions encourage school pride and give students something to look forward to, deviating from the usual monotony of the school day.
One of our most celebrated traditions is homecoming. Homecoming is a school celebration that promotes school pride and champions school spirit. The Student Government Association puts in an overwhelming amount of time to plan the festivities for students during that week.
Long before homecoming week, posters begin to pop up around the school advertising the agenda for the week. Excitement and anticipation builds as students plan their decade day outfits or their ingenious superhero day costumes.
The junior and senior classes start gearing up for the powder puff game, ready to battle for the title. Seniors go through rounds of voting to determine homecoming queen and must ignore the building speculation of who will win or lose.
“There is a lot of planning that goes into getting forms, coaches, referees, uniforms, supplies and all the money that we spend,” said senior class president Alexis Jett.
As the week draws to close, the pep rally and homecoming game become the main focus. Friday is game day, and school spirit buzzes through the hallway. Students don class t-shirts or blue and gold. Those who have neglected to wear blue and gold pull out all the stops today.
“The spirit when I was here was a hundred times better,” said Rosario Rice, a class of 2000 alumnus. “Guys would paint their chests; it was just so much excitement.”
Our hallways are decorated with the homecoming theme. The meticulous process of planning the hallways comes down to that morning’s judging. Murals, life-size pictures, and props are all part of the decorations. Time put in to create the hallways serves as a bonding movement for members of a class who probably had no idea the other existed. Traditionally, the senior class will win.
In seventh period, the sound of the drum line signals the start of the pep rally. Students rush to the gym to hold a place for themselves and friends. The entire school is anticipating the introduction of the homecoming court, but most of all the senior class begins to get impatient; they have waited long enough and must know their king now. They await the moment when the host of the pep rally will call their class year and their screams will resonate around the gym.
Now, imagine a senior class who has had no powder puff game; a senior class who will never be able to cheer for their king. Imagine a junior class who will never know what it’s like to attempt to beat their adversaries at powder puff.
This year, traditions have been put to the wayside because of the actions of only a few students.

Members of the student body were interviewed to get a perspective of reactions to the events of this year’s Homecoming week.
“School is not a team sport,” said Kristofer Parks. “We all shouldn’t be punished for what one person did.”
“I think it’s very insulting to punish the senior class for something we didn’t do when all these people who did do the offenses will have these privileges in their senior year,” said senior Victoria Arnold, who was a member of homecoming court.
“I don’t care anymore, all the ridiculous restrictions already implemented make Chamblee a no-fun zone for me,” said junior Brittany Parks.
“Homecoming week was a hot mess. All throughout my years attending Chamblee I’ve looked forward to being a senior and them calling our class in the pep rally,” said senior Jacobi Anderson.
“Instead of going swagged out in the pep rally, we got to watch a 30 second video? That was fun,” said senior Brandon Baird, an escort on the homecoming court. “It’s against tradition. Thank you class of 2013 let’s see how you prosper in life.”
“I was going to be in a lot of the pep rally events this year,” said senior Alex Coble, a member of the homecoming court. “I was part of the homecoming court, the powder puff cheerleading, and the cross country team, so I was kind of looking forward to it.”
“This is only the beginning of a steep decline for the future state of our school,” said senior Leo Charles.
“This was our senior year and everything was canceled because of students that weren’t seniors,” said senior Artemus Norman, a varsity football player. “This was our last homecoming and we have nothing to show for it. Where my king at?”
“I usually look forward to Homecoming week. But this year wasn’t what I expected, so I had to spice it up myself,” said junior Jamani Chavis.
“I feel that it was a complete waste of time for them to make us vote and then not announce it. I don’t see how not announcing the homecoming king teaches us a lesson,” said senior Patrick Clark, a member of the varsity football team.
“Every class before us has torn down the freshmen decoration but it just so happens that our class gets punished for it. We are reaping the bad seeds sewn by previous classes,” said Clark.

Steve Rubino, the sponsor for the Class of 2010 and Principal Rochelle Lowery were interviewed to state the administration perspective
Rubino
“Destruction of property is never tradition. Just because you do something illegal over and over doesn’t make it tradition.”
“It was a tough call. I made the decision to cancel the pep rally and powder puff. I was afraid that there would be other actions when the entire school got together.”
“My concern was that we get nobody hurt, that, to me, was the ultimate decision.”
“Homecoming king is a privilege. It’s something we’ve done for about four or five years. We’ve always announced it at the pep rally. The pep rally was canceled because of behavioral issues, so was homecoming king.”
Lowery
“Other than courses, the school does not offer anything that just “come along” with being in a certain grade. There are certain activities/events for each grade level that are traditionally planned by students, staff members and/or parents. The homecoming week activities were not senior-specific. We were all hoping for that week to be fun and enjoyable – students, staff and parents, alike. It was unfortunate for all of us that we were unable to enjoy all of the homecoming related activities during homecoming week.”