Homecoming is most definitely the best time of the year at Patchogue Medford. As guidance counselor Mrs. Goldfader always says, “Nobody does homecoming like Pat-Med.” This year’s theme was movie trilogies. Phenomenal movies were picked for each grade and executed greatly throughout the floats, tee shirts, bulletin boards and skits.

Although Mother Nature was not on our side this year, the rain could not stop the fun, only the parade. Missing the prideful walk down Main Street was a hard loss this year but our mini version in the teacher’s parking lot was just as good.

“I was so upset when I heard the parade was cancelled. It’s so nice to see our whole community together but I have to say, they still did  great job showing off the kid’s hard work,” says Theresa, spectator.

Usually, when the good people of Patchogue Medford are on decent terms with Mother Nature the parade is astonishing. Hundreds of people gathered in the streets, neighbors fighting over which of their kids float is better and parents wearing two different class shirts, making sure to support their kids equally.

“The floats are probably my favorite part of homecoming. They are such a great example of how hard our kids really work all week,” Janine, spectator.

The creativity put into the floats may be the most wondrous thing about homecoming. It’s always hard to incorporate football into the various themes of homecoming however, this year turned out to be extra difficult. Inputting a football field onto a random movie scene can hardly ever look like it fits.

Yet time and time again the floats blow my mind away. The scale and grandeur of the floats increase every year, adding moving parts and even more flower covered details. For example, The Class of 2019 has been known to truly personalize floats in recent years such as adding the Long Island wood piece with elementary school touch this year.

“We were all kind of confused at first because we’ve never done this before but once we got the hang of it, we were getting so much done so quickly,” Tiffany, Class of 2022.

The very impressive winners of float this year should all give themselves a pat on the back. As freshman, they were able to accomplish more than expected. The moving parts, like Gru on the bottom and the variety of minions brought their float up to a much higher level than the rest. All of the sunshine yellow flowers also put spectators in very good moods on that rainy morning.

“We put so much work into our float, especially because we missed out on Monday so we really had to step it up the rest of the week,” Paulina, Class of 2021.

The sophomores Jurassic Park themed float most likely made a lot of babies cry, which is a good thing in this case because their dinosaurs were just so realistic. Their hard work shined through in their attention to detail on the right side, they may have forgotten about the left at first but it all came together in the end, giving them second place.

The juniors and seniors tied in third place for their floats. The juniors, maybe for their perfect color palette and the seniors, maybe for their attention to detail. The world may never know. However it was obvious both classes worked so hard and produced great results. The pride they feel should mean more than placing first anyway.

“Float site is always the best part of homecoming. Our kids have such a good time and put so much effort in to make something great. It was emotional, this year being our last but these kids are amazing and they truly give it their all,” says Mrs. Connelly, Class of 2019 advisor.

Next comes the highly anticipated skits. The skits here at Pat-Med range from NYC subway shows to Broadway shows. When it involves Mrs. McGourty, it’s always Broadway level. Although seniors took first, huge shoutout to Melissa for crying on stage during the slide show for that one, the juniors skit blew everyone away.

“Those kids work so well together, I would help them again in a heartbeat if I could,” says Mrs. McGourty, former class advisor.

The rest of the skits, most including someone in a giant dinosaur costume ran smoothly, except for the freshman. I’m not sure if there was butter on the stage for them or what but there were way too many injuries for there to be no lawsuit. The sophomores enchanted everyone with a football game against dinosaurs because obviously that’s how you solve a conflict with those vicious creatures. As for the seniors, the slide show at the end really pulled it altogether.

There are the obvious things related to homecoming and then there are the events that have a little less emphasis on them but require just as much effort. For example, class shirts. Personally, I’m a fan of the Taylor Swift lyrics on the freshman shirts, which they will never live down. I can already hear the words being shouted at every Raiderbowl. But this year, senior shirts had to take the cake. Instead of a sappy saying we chose a sappy image. Much better in my opinion. The Long Island on the front will always remind us of home.

“I will always wear our senior shirts, they are so different than any class shirts I’ve seen,” says Molly, Class of 2019.

The last component of Pat-Med homecoming is the bulletin boards. The juniors again wowed everyone with their realistic treasure chest wrapped around the board and music that could be heard all the way from the third floor. The best part was the inside with all of the events labeled like a real map. On the other side of the hall, the seniors got creative with the theme and placed all of the events in different style clocks.

“All of the boards came out so nice this year, I love walking around the halls and seeing them,” says Melissa, Class of 2019.

The best advice any person attending Patchogue Medford High School could hear is to get involved in homecoming. It is seriously a surreal experience here. Nobody takes one moment for granted because having the community come together and showcasing your hard work is an indescribable feeling. What’s even better is seeing everyone dressed full out in Raider apparel, showing nothing but absolute pride for our school. I only wish I could repeat it another four years. There truly is nothing like a Patchogue Medford homecoming.

Editor’s note: For more amazing pictures of Homecoming 2018, click the link to the side of this article.