Written by Newspaper Staff Reporter Kamran Padilla

Fall of 2008, Allatoona opened its doors for the first time for the class of 2010. The reason why it was not for the class of 2009 is because Allatoona had zero seniors the first year. It has been about a decade and a half since this school opened, and the biggest game is right around the corner to celebrate former Allatoona students. The first Princess of Homecoming was Freshman Natalie Buckshaw, and the Homecoming Queen was Ashley Noble. Homecoming was originally for the girls, and that is why there was not a single boy on the Homecoming Court that year. The boys still had something; it was known as Hoopcoming. We soon adopted the tradition of having both a King and Queen for Homecoming. Then came the Homecoming game. The Bucs were not doing so great, losing the game immediately before Homecoming, so when the Homecoming game came around, they were ready to defend Buc Stadium. When the football stadium first opened, there was only side of bleachers, so each game had everyone on their heels. A tough game against the North Paulding Wolfpack was played that night. The Wolfpack pushed through our lines, winning, but we did not let that game go. We played North Paulding again on their own field the next game, and we were furious. We fought with all our might to win that night to show them our Buc Pride. 

One of the biggest traditions at Allatoona is the Homecoming Dance being held in the cafeteria. The decorations have never been bought or set up by an outside organization. The Bucs take great pride in doing events on our own, so the Art Club took control of decorating the school. This is where our biggest club, Helm, was born. Helm has helped every year to set up decorations, saving the school so much money. This also led to The Playlist, an old tradition where students would pick songs and make a huge playlist for games and The Dance. We even had our own DJ to play them, our old administrator Mr. S. High schoolers being high schoolers, played songs when they were not supposed to, so they did lose their music privileges, but they got them back shortly later. They did learn their lesson, hopefully. 

The school was crazy the first few years. Allatoona had a car that had the opponent's name written on it, and the students demolished it. Following safety procedures like wearing gloves and eye protection, they went to town on that car. They also had a huge bonfire one day, where the flames reached over 20 feet tall. The teachers also had their part in the craziness. They went all out on Spirit Week dressing up. They even painted students' hair to try to win the Spirit Week competition. The dance offs during the dance were crazy, and teachers still talk about them to this day. Teachers had to teach the students to be spirited. 

As the 9th comes around, Allatoona Bucs will get ready for Homecoming through Spirit Week. Bucs will go all out each day dressing up, bringing crazy backpacks, and showing off their class colors. The Bucs Bleachers will be shining bright Friday Night for it is a Gold Out for the Buccaneers. After a long week of spirit and football, then comes Saturday, for our tradition in our cafeteria to boogie all the rest of our energy away. This week is for all Toona Kids and previous Toona kids to enjoy, so have a great week, Bucs!! 

BUCS on 3!!! BUCS on 3!!! 1... 2... 3... 

BUCS!!!!