Patriot HS Students Raise Bar for Homecoming Invites

A Patriot Senior male, who requests to remain nameless, asked his crush, Victoria Burress on a date to Patriot's second Fall Festival with a truly epic gesture.  The couple is pictured to the right. (Photo submitted by Miranda Cobbs.)

Homecoming is a celebration for high school teenagers to walk in their parent's footsteps, and for young men it often is the first time they must invite that one special girl on their first formal date. To many Patriot High School students the simple gesture of flatly asking a girl to the dance is out of the question. In order to impress a high school girl today, young men have to step up their game. The quotes on life hacks's website about heartbreaks attribute the epiphany of heartbroken people on the incompetence of the people wanting a relationship.

This year the seniors at Patriot High School set the bar even higher as evident by one junior who asked out the girl of his choice when he dropped a stuffed animal from a helicopter that hovered above school grounds after school on Sept. 12.

Just like those plastic soldier toys we all played with as kids, this teen dropped a stuffed puppy with a love note attached. Creative, yes. Original? Maybe. Wow factor?  He dropped the toy dog from a helicopter!

The public stunt made the news cycle, including an article that was featured in The Washington Post last week. The Post reports from school officials that the boy did receive permission from school authorities. However, questions remain if  the helicopter driver was granted permission on his end.

Back on the ground, students were stunned to see a helicopter hovering low above their school, they were more impressed to find it was at the request of a student as an invitation to the homecoming dance! Many upperclassmen boys asked themselves: how am I going to compete?

However, the helicopter invite was not the only creative proposal at Patriot this year. Many students scrambled to think of some out of the box ideas, resorting to internet blogs, movie scenes and even soliciting peer feedback.

"Phone calls and texts are a thing of the past. Bravery and confidence are both attributes that are necessary in successfully completing the perfect date invite," said Senior Taylor Sanford.

Senior Zak Watson spent a good two weeks trying to figure out a creative way to impress his girlfriend with a homecoming invite. After contemplating a series of ideas, he decided to make a brave his fears and go for a public approach. He set up a scavenger hunt with signs all around Patriot leading his girlfrielnd to one giant 6 x 12 foot poster saying “Will you go to Homecoming with me?" Not only did it take hours on end to create such a masterpiece, he had to get multiple school administrators' approvals.

Zach Watson with his date Jamie. Zach created a scavenger hunt in order to ask Jamie to the dance.

“Although planning took a long time on top of football practice and school work, it was worth it because I know she appreciated it more especially (it) being our senior year," said Watson.

Mile long signs? Helicopter launched stuffed animals? What else could Patriot come up with? One senior varsity football player decided he wanted to make his mark along with his fellow classmates and go all out.

Ralph Carder, Varsity linebacker, came up with a not so public, but still unique way of asking his girlfriend out. "Beecher", as his friends call him, decided to think out of the box and create a picture puzzle in which each class period his girl friend would receive a new pictureand by the end of the day he would reveal the last piece. The pieces consisted of a picture of Will Smith (Will), a picture of Uncle Sam Pointing to you (You), a stop light with a green light (go), a person holding up two fingers (to), a person falling (Fall), a picture of the word Manifest with mani crossed out (Fest), then a picture of the word " W/" (With) and then a picture of him (Me).

Beecher said, " I did step it for senior year because I have never been to homecoming or prom and I really wanted to go all out for my first and last year."

Ralph "Beecher" Carter showed his artistic interest and admiration for Will Smith in his dance date proposal.

As the dance gets closer and closer, more Patriot High School Students step up their A-Game and rise to the challenge that many others have placed in front of them. Patriot's first Senior class continues to set the standards for all underclassmen by representing their school motto not just through sports, and academics, but in their community.

"Leadership, Integrity, Character, and Pride are what set us apart from competing schools in our district," says Senior Taylor Sanford.