LC’s latest CON-troversey

By Laura Sheikh

For as long as the class of 2026 can remember, Lewis and Clark convocations—known as “cons”—have been held in the morning after a shortened second period. So, when the 2025 Homecoming con was announced to be after sixth, it came as a shock to students.

The decision was made over staff concerns that the cons, which often go overtime, were too disruptive to the rest of the learning day.

Ivan Corley, Lewis and Clark High School principal, attributes the commotion surrounding the change to a breakdown in communication between students and staff.

“Like most things I know could potentially happen in the school, I take it through a decision-making process,” Corley said. “With this, you’re gonna get cheer, ASB, band—you’re gonna ask those highly involved, ‘What do you think?’”

That meeting with those major stakeholders was held the last week of September.

“My expectation was then, go back and ask your students… because we want to make sure we’re doing what our students are interested in.”

Scarlett Hargreaves, a senior and part of the leadership program, said that a week or two before the Oct. 18 con, the idea of having it after sixth was brought up to her class.

“We said, hard no. The entire class was like, we don’t want this to happen. This is not gonna work.”

Leadership students raised concerns that their schedules would not accommodate staying after school to help clean up, which was planned to involve messy activities like hot dog bobbing and pie-chucking. They also worried students would leave after the shortened school day and skip the con.

Leadership instructor Lyndsey Calkins said that when the idea came up, she brought it back to her classes.

“Leadership had concerns, and so I said, ‘you’re free to go talk to admin.’ Okay, they tried to go talk to admin, couldn’t find them. And then I think, just like in the craziness of what the day is, especially when you’re trying to plan a con, they forgot.”

The cheer team also raised concerns over participation. On October 14, Ava Newell, a senior cheerleader, put out a petition to move the con back to after second period. The petition garnered 191 signatures.

The next day, Corley emailed the LC community offering to meet with students for “more information regarding Homecoming events,” but the con’s timing did not change. Two students attended his meeting in the morning, and about 20 more spoke to him later that day.

Calkins thinks that if there were better channels for communication in place, conversations would have been had earlier, and things wouldn’t have escalated to the degree that they did.

“I think we’re all just doing the best that we can, and communication has just always kind of been something that we can do better,” she said.

Yes, there were more people at the con than expected, said Hargreaves. “But also there were people not there, and that was a big deal.”

Corley assured the Tiger Tribune that the school had admin and security positioned on every potential escape route for students trying to go AWOL.

“We were in the same spots we are for advisory—which has changed so that every kid doesn’t get out of here during advisory anymore,” he said.

The one factor that cannot be controlled, Corley said, is if students don’t have a sixth period or if parents call their students out of school.

“That’s their legal right as their parents.”

Teacher and Homecoming dance contest judge, Laura Brincken, enjoyed having the con after sixth period.

“I was thankful we didn’t have to miss any class time in case the con went long, and I also thought it was really nice to get students hyped at the end of the day so they could carry that energy straight into the game afterwards.”

“I think there were a few people missing, but I was really pleasantly surprised that it was quite full, especially in the lower classmen areas,” she said.

Perhaps the biggest issue with the sixth-period con was timing. LC cons are notorious for running long, so an extra ten minutes were added—but the alumni speeches took up twice their allotted time of 10 minutes.

As a result, wig snatching, “Sing That Song,” and learning cheers were dropped, and the homecoming royalty sections were condensed.

“I totally understand it cuts into class periods. What I don’t understand is it’s just like one day out of the year. It’s not, like, the biggest thing for me,” said Hargreaves.

The sixth-period con was implemented as a pilot to test the waters for the future, but one can’t help but wonder if it’s left the LC community with fewer answers and more questions.

Corley said they will continue to evaluate the situation. At previous schools where he has been principal, the schedule alternated—something he is not opposed to.

“We just said spirit (cons) are going to be at the end of the day. Martin Luther King, Veterans—I call them educational—we’re going to do in the morning. So then it balanced out the impact of the year.”

The upcoming Rubber Chicken con, however, will remain a morning event. “Leadership needs to go to the arena at one—they have a U-Haul full of props,” Corley said.

In the meantime, LC students and staff eagerly watch and wait to see if the “after-sixth-period con” will become a new tradition or remain a one-time experiment.