Community comes together to make a great homecoming

What a week for homecoming! Rain, school closures and tons of school spirit! I was so happy to be a part of a team that helped unite the New Hampton businesses and the New Hampton High School to see red and black spread throughout New Hampton!The Iowa Big students took on this project with a passion to get windows painted or posters hung along Main Street and get retailers involved in the dress-up days!I took part in just a few of the fun days, but it really took me back to high school for sure! Picking out my outfits the night before and seeing what my Walking School Bus kids came out of their front doors in! As elementary students they are also so excited to get dressed up and know what the week is all about!This year was my first year getting to take pictures of the Celebrity Rivers and, man, did I get goosebumps! Walking into the elementary school and seeing the tall high schoolers tower over these little kids could be scary but not when the high schoolers got down to the youngsters’ level and read them stories, showing them how important that can be.The younger kids were excited to see high schoolers they knew and see them act goofy when doing minute to win-it games as well!After the celebrity readers the young students met with the high schoolers in the gym and it was madness! The kids running around getting signatures from football players, volleyball players, cheerleaders and cross country runners! Again, I got goosebumps to say the least. It could not have been more cute! Not to mention you could definitely tell which high school students are used to being around youngsters while some of the guys looked a little unsure of how to handle the situation!Kids can be intimidating but those big, manly men melted to them just like the rest of us!And to top it all of with a big win! What a week for sure!