Early October marks the beginning of fall, with homecoming week at San Lorenzo Valley High School coming in like a flurry of crisp leaves flying on a crisp autumnal wind. Homecoming at SLVHS is the first full week of October every year; it is a five day period of crazy spirit days that ends with an energetic rally to pump up the student body for the festivities on Saturday.
On Saturday, October 10th, sports fans attended the homecoming football game, cheering on the Cougar boys, and that evening fashion savvy students showed off their best at the annual homecoming dance. This fun-filled week would not be possible without the hard work of the SLVHS student body and the ASB class.
Jenna Solomon, the Junior Class President had an aura of elation around her during the week prior to homecoming. The juniors are in charge of Homecoming every year, with Jenna at the forefront of it all.
“It’s overwhelming, sure” said Jenna, “But it’s also very exciting. We all get along really well and have know each other since kindergarten, so being able to create something together is great.” She easily expressed how much she looked forward to it all and her high hopes for this year’s festivities, especially the rally. Solomon said, “I think the Junior Lip Sync is going to go really well.”
Another member of the ASB Class is junior Josslyn Andrews, who was busy as a bee during the homecoming preparations.“Overall, we have a really great handle on things,” said Andrews, “I think it’s really just the little tiny details that will be difficult.” She discussed the plentiful number of things that needed to be done, like getting homecoming crowns and giving out questionnaires to the homecoming court. She said, “It’s all stressful and overwhelming, but I’m very excited to see how it all comes together and seeing the final product. Working together has really helped me to get to know people, too, which is great.”
Seniors are less focused on the homecoming committee, as they already did their time last year as Juniors. However, they still had a large hand in the preparation for homecoming, especially the court. One member of the homecoming court and the SLVHS class president, Ryan Williams, was surprised to see he got into the court but was not anywhere near nervous.
“I think it will be really cool to lay back for a year but later be able to say, ‘Hey kids! I was in homecoming court,’” said Williams, “I’m really glad to be so involved in things at school. I think it will be really rewarding.”
Each of the four grade levels found themselves with a tough workload before the homecoming rally on October 9th as they put together lip sync choreography and turned the mundane gym into an amazing display of school pride and color for the homecoming rally.
The seniors reigned victorious at the rally, with their glow in the dark, horror movie-themed lip sync. Each grade put their best foot forward during the spirit days, with the sophomores stealing the title for best class colors on Monday, something that pushed all three of the other grade levels to extremes throughout the rest of the week to try and snag more spirit points and to prove their class pride.
Seniors Brighton Hart, Jake Hampton, and Joe Oard even borrowed dresses from Ms. van Putten for Dress Like a Teacher Day on Thursday, October 8. In the end, the sophomores kept up their lead and ended up winning the title of most spirit points over the course of the week.
Another important part of homecoming is of course the homecoming court– a group of seniors nominated by the other seniors and voted for by the whole school. The homecoming court this year consisted of seniors Chloe Parker, Ryan Williams, Sydney Mongiello, Jake McClure, Lauren Walker, Anna Morris, Mitchell Kamau, Alli Pooré, Mike laCapria and Nick Salibi, and Rose Levy and Sam Keadle as MC’s.
At Saturday’s winning game against Capuchino High School, Alli Pooré and Mitchell Kamau were crowned as homecoming king and queen, the prince and princess being Mike LaCapria and Chloe Parker.
By: Serena Mendoza
The Claw 