As Miami Palmetto Senior High School approaches its annual homecoming week, students from all grades prepare for Panther Prowl, a skit and dance battle between each of the classes and clubs. This year, prowl will take place during the school day on Oct. 14.

Each year, classes create their performances according to the homecoming theme. The 2021-2022 homecoming theme is Hocoween; throughout the week, there will be various spirit days aligning with either Palmetto or Halloween, all ending with a Halloween-inspired dance. 

The process starts with songs and skits, then proceeds with class-wide rehearsals. While class officers along with cabinet typically make up the cast for each grade, all students are welcome to participate. In order to organize the large group of students and perfect the performances, the students in different cohorts often meet to learn and perfect the dances.

With all of Palmetto students back in-person, student activities have started to resume with some of the earliest being Hocoween week, which starts Oct. 11; however, due to COVID-19 guidelines set by the school district, these events will undergo some modifications. 

In order to go on with the show in the middle of a global pandemic, the event will take place during the school day as a fundraiser for United Way. Instead of a fully live performance from the participating classes and clubs, parts will be recorded prior to the event and the remaining parts will be live. 

Despite the slightly preventative alterations, students began rehearsing for the Halloween-themed event, centering their music choices and numbers after classic Halloween favorites. Miami Palmetto Senior High senior Alexa Flores had a large role in the senior class performance as she is the captain of Variations, the Palmetto dance team, and has participated in prowl for three years. 

“When I found out the theme was Halloween, my mind immediately went to Haunted house,” Flores said. “When I was younger, my family used to throw annual Halloween parties, and we would build our own haunted house and have my cousin and her friends from New World act in them. Being able to recreate something similar for Panther Prowl for senior year feels full circle for me.”

Due to the hiatus caused by the pandemic, many of the students have not yet experienced the excitement and energy that the school community shares leading up to and during the school events. Now, freshmen and seniors alike can gather in the gym for activities, like Panther Prowl, and exude the same love for the school.

“As someone who started High School during the pandemic, the social and spirited aspect of high school was not present,” Miami Palmetto Senior High School sophomore Emma Behar said,I am super stoked about a Panther Prowl being back because it will give us all a taste of the spirited Palmetto we all know and love. I am involved in the student council so activities like Panther Prowl are things that I have looked forward to partaking in for a long time. I’m so glad it’s back!”