Sondra Hernandez Staff writer October 1, 2024

When James Bush started as principal of Grand Oaks High School in 2022, he wanted to put together an event that would unite the Grand Oaks feeder schools and surrounding neighborhoods. 

As a big fan of college football, he worked with the school’s parent-teacher organization put together a homecoming tailgate to share school spirit across the Grand Oaks feeder. 

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On Friday afternoon before Grand Oaks’ homecoming game, PTO parents hosted the third annual tailgate for the school in Woodforest Bank Stadium parking lot with a cookout, games, photo backdrop and plenty of school spirit. 

Rallying around school spirit

“When I was hired one of the first things I was challenged to do is build and add to the community of Grand Oaks,” Bush said. “The Woodlands has the Town Center and Market Street. When you look at the Grand Oaks area there are a lot of competing neighborhoods so there’s no community center except for what happens at the school. From day one that was my challenge how can we make the schools the center of everything we do and rally everyone around that.” 

Elementary schools in the Grand Oaks feeder zone include Birnham Woods, Bradley, Broadway, Ford and Snyder. Two intermediate schools — Cox and Clark — feed into Grand Oaks as does York Junior High. 

The first tailgate took place in 2022 and Grand Oaks PTO President Milissa Kaufman said the event has continued to grow each year. Student interest in the game has increased as well. 

Bush said they broke a record this year by pre-selling 1,400 student tickets to the game, which saw Grand Oaks lose 28-14 to the College Park Cavaliers.

Karen Brooks, a Hometown Team Remax Integrity real estate agent, was the sponsor for this year’s tailgate. Brooks said she lives by the school and sees the activities of the school every day. 

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Building buzz before the big game

“I’ve never seen anything like this before at a high school,” Brooks said of the tailgate. “It’s amazing and brings everyone together and creates excitement before the game.” 

She had free Grand Oaks rally towels at her booth. 

Creekstone Outdoor Living was the grill master for the tailgate serving up hamburgers and hot dogs. This is the second year for Creekstone to do the cooking. 

Grand Oaks culinary students served the food. 

Avril Dulce Lopez, a sophomore, is vice president of the culinary team and her favorite thing about the tailgate was meeting new people while serving the hamburgers and hot dogs. 

Last year she went big and made a mum and garter. This year, she and her friends were forgoing the homecoming dance but were still planning an outing. 

Mia Eguia, a senior, was a part of the soccer team doing stick-on Grand Oaks tattoos. While sticking on the temporary tattoos she sported a soccer-themed mum. She liked that hers was simple and is not a fan of the large, over-the-top mums. 

“I like when the mums are smaller. I thought it was super cute with the frills and little chains,” Eguia said. “As a senior I just want to hang out with my friends and enjoy my last year with them and have a good time.” 

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