Rumors surrounding the freshman class disqualification from the homecoming hallway contest are not true, according to Nico Atencio, the SGA advisor. In fact, the freshman class finished in second place behind the seniors in this year’s contest. The final standings which were seniors first, freshmen second, juniors third and sophomores last, were supposed to be announced at the homecoming game after the “Imma Mad Cow” song, but were not due to a system failure with some of the electronic equipment midway through the song.

Since very few people were informed of the final standings, many rumors and speculations were circulating among students as well as teachers. Sarah Bourgeois, the freshman class sponsor, said she was not told until the night of the homecoming game by Atencio that the freshmen were not actually disqualified. Before talking with Atencio at the game, she believed that the freshmen were disqualified from the contest.

Rumors about the alleged disqualification of the freshman class began spreading shortly after the conclusion of the hallway decorating the day before the homecoming game.

“There were complaints brought to my attention regarding assistance from parents and donated materials,” said Atencio.

Other students working in competing hallways alleged that parents were assisting the freshman in the construction of their hallway and the gathering and transporting of materials from home to school.

While this may be deemed as unfair to other classes, this is not a violation of any rule. Each class is allowed to receive basic assistance from parents like the transportation of materials and the freshmen did not violate this.

“Freshmen aren’t going to have their own transportation, so parents are going to have to be involved in the process somehow,” said Bourgeois.

Freshmen do not have the resources of a class such as the seniors who are much more independent. Most of the seniors are able to drive and have access to their personal funds, so they do not need nearly as much assistance from others to complete their hallway.

Although there are no established rules regarding the hallway contest, there is a line that cannot be crossed. About five years ago, one class actually hired a professional artist to assist in their hallway. This is a violation of the rules because the students in this class were not completing their own work.

Despite all of the confusion, the freshmen class did succeed and created a very competitive hallway that even managed to challenge the seniors.

“I think the seniors heard about the freshmen hallway being really good which added some extra motivation for them,” said Atencio.