November 17, 2005

Backstage PassThe Almaden Times’ Teen Scene

Homecoming is a chance to have fun and party!

By Margo Consul
Leland Senior

The time-honored tradition of homecoming has turned into a huge community party.

Pioneer High School’s Homecoming court, from left, Shayna Young, Syra McCarthy, Whitney Feezor, Jamie Newton, Ian Elizondo, April Ham, Dino Devera, Kameron Brown, Christopher Kaufman, Caitlin Burnham, Katee Shean and Matt Hanlon. Photos by Ron Reed

Homecoming, the biggest school wide celebration of the year, is always held during the fall. I’ve always wondered where and when the whole idea of “homecoming” began.

“Homecoming” is claimed to have first been used by the University of Indiana in 1910. But its archrival Indiana University had its first official homecoming two years before the first University of Indiana’s homecoming.

The idea of homecoming has always been the same. Homecoming honors alumni and welcomes them back to their alma maters. The origin of homecoming in the high school system is still unknown. No particular school claims to be the first, but it is as big a deal in some high schools as in college level.

Three local high schools have openly shared how they celebrated homecoming this year. They all turned the one-day event into a whole week of activities and spirit competitions.

Below: Pioneer Ninth graders Sandra Nguyen and Travis Lorius.Photos by Ron Reed

Westmont High School had class competitions all week long. They had the freshman versus the sophomores and the juniors versus the seniors in a lip sync competition at lunch in the first part of the week. Wednesday night they had the rally. Their theme this year was Westmont “Under” (the class selected this part).

For example, the sophomore class was “Undercover” and the seniors were “Under the Tassels” because they are graduating. The night of the rally, the theme was Westmont “Under the Big Top” and the gym was decorated in a circus theme. The royalty was presented and the winner of the lip sync revealed. Then on Thursday a powder-puff football game between the junior and the senior women took place. The team is put together a couple weeks before homecoming and the teams practice until the day of the game when they square off. Friday night was the big dance and the next day was the football game. Jason Vanegas, senior class president, and Katie Medlicott, senior prom commissioner, made the week very magical.

Leland homecoming King Kevin Battipede and Queen Julie Fournier.

Pioneer’s homecoming theme was “Las Vegas.” During the week classes each had a day to dress up like a hotel, appropriately called “Hotel Day.” And the other classes had similar themes, such as “Job Day.” On Friday, is was “School Colors day” and the rally was in the middle of the day. The schedule of classes was changed so the whole school could go to the rally. Saturday afternoon was the football game and the presentation of the homecoming royalty. They also had class float competitions. The floats were displayed during half time of the game. Saturday night was the dance. Brianna Porter, a senior cheerleader at Pioneer, said the cheerleaders gave out treats to the football players during the week as support for the big game at the end of the week.

Leland also had a weeklong celebration utilizing the “Las Vegas” theme. Each class made up a skit having to do with Las Vegas. At lunch, one class a day presented their skit and at the end of the week the winner was revealed. The juniors focused on Treasure Island with a skit about pirates while the sophomores used “Rock Vegas,” basing their skit on the Flintstones. The seniors’ theme was “Ocean’s Eleven.”

Cheerleaders at Leland’s Homecoming 2005.

Thursday evening, students celebrated with a rally. The homecoming royalty was presented and the varsity football players were honored. Friday was class colors day and the homecoming game. The winner of the skit competition got to do a small part of their skit at half time of the football game. Then Saturday was the dance.

From what started as a simple way of letting alumni know how much they were loved, homecoming has turned into a whole week of fun games, skits and dress-up days. The great part is that every high school has a different way of celebrating it and it is never the same two years in a row. Though it may never be known when homecoming was started at the high school level, the celebration and love for football will carry on for generations to come.

Talking Turkeys

By Carol Rosen

What’s on your iPod and what does your choice in music say about you?
(Asked at Via Valiente Center)

“No Doubt, Queen and a lot of mixed CDs. It says I like music.”

Lindsey Hydorn, 14
Almaden
Freshman at Leland


“I don’t have one, but I want one of those video ones. Right now it’s just too expensive. It says I don’t spend money on the newest technology.”

Faith Wakefield-Mills, 14
Almaden
Freshman at Leland


“Techno, Punk rock like the old Sex Pistols, Clash and the Killers and some new stuff. Guess it says that I’m kind of an individual, I’m not with the crowd that likes rap, I’m saying something.”

Will Powell, 14
Almaden
Freshman at Leland


“I don’t have one, I nearly bought one a couple of days ago—one of the new ones with video—but I’m getting an older one for a much better deal. I listen to rock and metal. Rap is terrible repetitive and set to a beat, it’s terrible. That shows I’m a rock fan and a geek.”

Jon Gill, 14
Almaden
Freshman at Leland


“I don’t have one, but I want one. I haven’t saved up enough money, but Christmas is coming….”

Christian Seger, 14
Almaden
Freshman at Leland


“I don’t have an iPod, but my brother has an iPod Shuffle. I could use one, but I’m not going to save up my money. If I had one, I’d put on all my favorite albums, some old rock and some heavy metal.”

Kevin Flammer, 16
Almaden
Junior at Leland


“I don’t have one, but I want one. If I had one it would have everything from jazz to heavy metal, but NO rap!”

Krisna Bhargava, 17
Almaden
Senior at Leland


“I have a little bit of just about everything on my iPod. Ninety percent of everything on there is rock, I have no rap or country, but I do have a bit of jazz, mostly rock, metal, punk and classic rock. Heavy metal music is the music of intellectual people.”

Ben Gill, 18
Almaden
Senior at Leland


“I don’t have one, but I listen to everything from Bach to Elvis to Rommstein to Queen. I don’t think it really says anything, you can’t tell what a person is like by their music.”

Justin Gorgen, 16
Almaden
Senior at Leland


“I have Josh Groban, the Black Eyed Peas, Gwen Stefani, Britney Spears. It says that I’m fun and I love music.”

Briteel Babaei, 14
Almaden
Freshman at Leland


“I don’t have one yet, but I will have it in three weeks. I’m going to put Hallaback Girl, Gwen Stefani and 1985 by Bowling for Soup on it. It says I’m basically like every other normal average teenager.”

Erica Kenney, 14
San Jose
Freshman at Lynbrook High


“I don’t have one. I don’t have time for it with doing marching band and field hockey at the same time.”

Emily Masad, 14
San Jose
Freshman at Lynbrook High