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Dear Griffin Families,
Homecoming Week 2026 was marked by festivity!
Thank you to the army of faculty, parents, and students who came together to host this year’s festivities. Many thanks to our Student Leadership Committees, specifically our Dance Committee and Spirit Committee, led by faculty advisors Mrs. Teague, Mrs. Dorr, and Mrs. Johnson, and our student chairs Maddie Griffith (Class of 2028) and Jude Nash (Class of 2027). I also want to thank our Parent Service Organization volunteers for their help with our Pep Rally, campus decorations, fundraising events, mum sales, and Homecoming Dance. Many thanks to our Middle School Griffin Spirit Line, who performed at our Pep Rally, and to their coach, Mrs. Dorr. I also want to thank our coaches and athletes for competing beautifully at our homecoming games. And many thanks to the faculty for leading our students to celebrate the good of our community, especially our homecoming dance chaperones and those who offered high school dance lessons at morning break in the weeks leading up to our Homecoming Dance (thank you, Ms. Eder, Mr. White, and Mr. Maiorano).
From the Griffin spirit that was palpable throughout our hallways, to the festive dress-up days, to the incredible high school Homecoming dance, this week was full of festivity.
I want to share a few thoughts on what we mean by festivity. A festival is out of the ordinary. Homecoming week only happens once a year. It’s also the product of a lot of work—our students, faculty, administrators, and parents certainly worked up to this week of feasting. But this event was also preceded by our students' and teachers’ work in academics and athletics throughout the quarter.
Also, feasts are good in themselves. A feast like homecoming is good and meaningful. It’s characterized by playfulness and joy.
And most importantly, a feast like homecoming is marked by an outpouring of our abundance of life. Through our homecoming festivities, we pass on our rich culture at Northern Oaks. Central to our culture is the importance of friendships centered around goods that ennoble and vitalize human beings. A feast, in a sense, proves how alive we are; the way we feast allows us to test our life, and it helps us to increase the vitality in our life. Communicating our culture is not just done in the classrooms, but through our festivals as well. What we celebrate in mankind, what we celebrate about the world, shows forth in the homecoming festivities.
Finally, these homecoming festivities helped us grow in unity with each other—students with teachers and students with each other. Where other schools can have hundreds and even thousands of people who occupy the same space but share very little, Northern Oaks is a place of celebrating friendships formed around worthy loves. Northern Oaks is a place where teachers and students celebrate together—where everyone is seen and known.
Thank you, students, faculty, and parents, for grounding your hearts in what endures and what does not disappoint. And thank you for the several beautiful and lasting memories made in this year’s homecoming week.
Onward and upwards!
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