RICHMOND, Ind. — Over the past two weeks, Richmond students were consistently subjected to the uncertainty of multiple school threats.
While the concern didn't necessarily disappear last week, in part because of another threat issued Thursday, students were able to place it in the back of their minds to have some fun during Homecoming Week.
From dress-up days such as Character Day and Red Devil Pride to the annual Homecoming Games, parade and dance, students and staff at Richmond Community Schools participated in an array of activities throughout the week, all under the watch of local law enforcement agencies.
AJ Cox, a history teacher and sponsor for the Bleacher Creatures and Student Council at Richmond High School, organized the parade and Homecoming Games with the help of his organizations.
"The kids always look forward to Homecoming Week," he said. "It's special for us. We start months out when it comes to preparing for the Homecoming Games, as well as the parade."
This year, the parade featured nearly 60 organizations across the district, as well as the district partners. Meanwhile, the Homecoming Games, which have been held since 2018, had a record of 20 teams, or about 180 students, participate.
"That's 20% of our student population," Cox said. "We've broken the record year after year."
The Homecoming Games, begun by AJ's brother, Isaiah Cox, in 2018, actually started in either the 1990s or early 2000s, according to AJ. They have only grown in student popularity.
"The kids get really into it, and they get really excited," he said. "There was a lot of trash talk leading up to it, but it's always a really fun night."
Team names for the event included Skibidi Gangsters, The Hard Hat Hooligans, Despicable 8, Los Pitufos, Pink Power, PJ Party and Senior Citizens.
The Alphas win 2024 Homecoming Games in rock, paper, scissors thriller
Throughout the night, teams competed against each other in a variety of challenges, such as transferring a tennis ball from one side of the field to another while keeping the ball between team members' knees, a toilet paper competition where teams raced to wrap their teammates with a single roll, and a cookie face race where players had to move a cookie from their foreheads to their mouths without their hands.
In the semifinals, four teams competed in a dizzy bat relay race where they had to spin around a bat seven times before running around a cone to tag in the next teammate, but it was the championship round that made for the most excitement.
There, the final two teams competed in a rock, paper, scissors race to get from Richmond's 50-yard-line to the 10, or vice versa, before the other team.
In the end, it was Holly Trotter who pulled out the victory for The Alphas, who defeated the Raging Red Devils.
"It's a tradition that I would love to see continue," Cox said. "Last year we had 18 teams and then this year we had 20. My eventual goal is to hopefully have 30 or 40 teams and have the student body out here.
"We've had a really rough couple of days," Cox said. "A lot of kids are dysregulated and kind of traumatized by the events that took place, as well as teachers and other staff members, but tonight felt completely different. I love this for them after this hard week that we've had. I love seeing them smiling and having fun and being themselves."
Homecoming Parade features 58 floats, goes off with no issues
Richmond Community Schools' Police Chief Rick Thalls said discussions to increase security for the parade began before consistent threats against the district were made, considering only one or two school resource officers were involved in traffic control.
With the Richmond Community Schools' Police Department being in its second year, all four officers were involved, as well as units from the Richmond Police Department and Indiana State Police.
Thalls said the heightened presence was not done out of necessity but "out of the peace of mind for the public."
"It just goes back to that relationship-building," he said. "The more they care about the kids and show up for the things they're involved in, the better that relationship goes."
Thalls also highlighted the department's purpose to serve the schools as their sole priority.
"We do not respond to accidents at all hours of the day," he said. "We do not perform the functions that your Richmond Police Department performs, or your Wayne County Sheriff's Department. We are purpose-built. We are focused on making sure we continue to promote a feeling of security and safety through our services to all of our students, parents, staff and the guests of the Richmond Community Schools."
The parade featured 58 floats across all schools and partner organizations and went on as planned without any known security threats.
Seniors Mason Carpenter and Gabi DeMotte crowned King and Queen
At halftime of the football game against Marion on Friday, the Homecoming Court was introduced to spectators.
Homecoming court members, made up of all seniors, included: Mason Carpenter, Maren Bolser, Deontae Watkins, Amari Jackson, Jacob George, Gabriella DeMotte, Liam Hart, Keena Barker, Cliffton Attis and Shaylon Sexton.
As voted on by their peers, Mason Carpenter and Gabriella DeMotte were named Homecoming King and Queen.
Carpenter's win was dedicated to his cousin Tremell Carpenter, who was Homecoming King in 2017 before he was shot and killed on May 29, 2018.
"That's really why I ran for it," he said. "Whenever I play in my sports, I wear No. 3 for him. Everything I do, my hard work in basketball and in school, it's for him. I know he's proud."
Carpenter, a National Honor Society member who plans to study business and play basketball at an undecided college, said that in spite of the recent threats, Homecoming Week was a time for students to just have fun.
"We have different things and stuff, so I think that's really good for the community. Homecoming Week is Homecoming Week, and everybody gets excited when Homecoming comes around."
DeMotte said the most fun part for her being on Homecoming Court was the campaigning for queen, despite not thinking that she was going to win.
"I love campaigning and getting people to take pictures with me," she said. "I just love that I actually feel this supported in this school. It's such a tight-knit community, and I love everything about it."
DeMotte, a four-year soccer player who's also the director of the school's fashion magazine and is active in Red Devil Mentors, National Honor Society, Business Professionals of America and Bleacher Creatures, plans to attend Indiana University Bloomington to study international business with a minor in French, in part because of her love for traveling, especially to France, where she's been six times.
"I've traveled ever since I was little and I felt like international business would really give me the opportunity to be able to travel, and I just love the French language," she said. "I took French all throughout high school."
About the threats the school has received lately, DeMotte said she appreciated the responses by the school and community.
"There's definitely been a lot of tension these past few weeks, but I feel the way the administration handled every situation really helped all of us," she said. "I think having a homecoming game at the end really helped all of our community come together with everything that was happening.
"Even through all of what was going on, we still maintain a positive attitude."
Evan Weaver is a news and sports reporter at The Palladium-Item. Contact him on X (@evan_weaver7) or email ateweaver@gannett.com.