Grand Haven has been ridiculed for racism, bad sportsmanship and TP-ing. We’ve sat through endless Whale Talks, assemblies about inclusion and we’ve constantly been told not to be zebras. Now, the ridicule has turned to praise. After four years of knowing who would be on the class of 2015 Homecoming court, the senior class threw Grand Haven a curve ball.

Four special students were elected to the court: Samantha Huffman, Brigid Marcinkus, Bradley Langemaat and Jack Dewitt. Their selection was in large part due to the efforts of seniors Mackenzie Burkhardt and Sydney Watson. The pair organized the movement to get them elected simply because they deserve it. Marcincus and Langemaat took home the crowns and praise for the student body began pouring in on Twitter almost immediately after the result was tweeted.

But Langemaat and Marcinkus’ victory highlighted something else. We showed a lot of doubters that we’re capable of banding together as a student body to create something really special. Yes, Watson and Burkhardt deserves credit for getting the ball rolling, but it took a collective effort from the entire school to make it happen.

So congrats class of 2015, you will go down in history. Everyone else, take a lesson from homecoming. We did something great, there’s no doubt about it, but why can’t we do more?

The first week of October isn’t the only occasion we have to include others. The community read picks up again Oct. 16 and with it comes an opportunity to build upon the positives from Homecoming week. Don’t simply brush off the community read as a joke, or as nothing more than a convenient time waster on Thursdays.

Participate.

Contribute to the conversation.

Make the effort to listen to what other students have to say.

The positive vibes generated by the four special students deserve to be capitalized on. While what happened on a football field at Friday night at 8 p.m. might not seem like something that can carry over directly to the classroom, we think it can. To put it bluntly: if we can care enough to elect Langemaat and Marcinkus, we can care enough to put forth a little effort while discussing the themes of a book.

We have the chance to prove something to the community, to the administration, and most importantly to ourselves. Take that chance. Show everyone that electing those four special students to the Homecoming court wasn’t just an isolated incident, but the start of something more.