Homecoming Week Festivities
While students adjust to the new school year filled with changes and transitions, the culminating
events of spirit week united students in support of the MHS football team and spurred excitement for
the Homecoming dance. Homecoming celebrations lasted from Oct. 6 to Oct. 11 with a variety of
school spirit events leading up to the football game and dance.
Spirit week was comprised of five different themed spirit days. The theme sometimes varied between
the classes, but the main aspect of spirit week is a competition between classes to earn spirit points.
Senior Tatiana Coria, ASB Spirit Commissioner, says that during Spirit Week, the classes competed to
have the most participants. Monday was “Class Color Day,” Tuesday was “Preps Versus Jocks Day”,
Wednesday was “Breast Cancer Awareness Day,” Thursday was “Generation Day,” and Friday was
“Blue and Gold Day,” Coria said.
This year more people participated in Spirit Week and many of the participants had more extravagant
costumes compared to those in previous years, according to Coria.
“1084 people dressed up for ‘Breast Cancer Awareness Day’,” Coria said. “I think this year a lot of
people dressed all out for the spirit days.”
The senior class was deemed victorious for both Class Color Day and Preps Versus Jocks Day and
won overall with a total of 210 spirit points, just 15 more points than the juniors in second place. The
sophomores and freshmen followed in third and fourth place respectively.
Freshman Aaron Tran dressed up for both Preps Versus Jocks Day and Breast Cancer Awareness
Day. He had no intention of helping his class gain spirit points, Tran said.
“I honestly didn’t care,” Tran said. “I dressed up for extra participation points in English class.”
Tran is one of many whose teachers offer points to those who dress up, giving students at MHS an
incentive to participate, if not for school spirit.
Along with these standard spirit week events, ASB also organized a Home Coming Carnival on Oct. 8
from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. This event included unique activities such as henna drawing, giving students air
brush tattoos, and live performances, all of which were hosted on the green.
Junior Aili Masuda, ASB General Commissioner, was in charge of planning and executing the carnival.
Homecoming Carnival is another focal point of Home coming week, according to Masuda.
“The main purpose of Homecoming Carnival is to hype up the rest of Homecoming Week,” Masuda
said, “It’s also for everyone to have a relaxed and fun time.”
The Homecoming carnival proves to be an increasingly popular event during Spirit Week, Masuda
said. The increase in attendees this year could be attributed to the introduction of new activities.
“Something different we had this year was that we only had one inflatable, the Zorb Ball,” Masuda
said. “But it turned out to be a success because everyone wanted to go inside one and try it out.”
The addition of live performances by MHS students and advertising through social media also led to
the greater attendance and overall more successful event, according to Masuda.
“I think everyone should definitely look forward to next year’s carnival,” Masuda said. “There’s
something for every type of person who goes.”
Spirit Week concluded with the Homecoming football game, the MHS Varsity football team versus the
Saratoga Falcons. The Trojans conquered once again with a final score of 49-0.
According to Football Coach Kelly King, this game was no different from any other. The team’s main
goal was to build upon previous skills and progress with every game.
“We had four interceptions for touchdowns, which ties state records,” King said. “Christian Rita had a
good game; he scored three touch downs.”
The team plans to work hard and improve in order to ensure success at its next game, King said.
Throughout the season, the football team will continue to strive and persevere, King said.
The Home Coming football game was accompanied by the Home Coming Float parade, between the
Junior Varsity and Varsity games. Each class created a float, which was judged accordingly.
Sophomore Sophia Han, a member of the Student Leadership Team, explained that the float
corresponded with the Board Game Heaven theme. Class officers and student volunteers gathered in
classrooms on the Wednesday and Friday preceding the parade to work on the floats, Han said.
“The class of 2015 had chess, 2016 had Operation, 2017 has Mouse Trap, and 2018 had Candyland,”
Han said. “We used planks, cardboard, a lot of tape, and fishing wires at our float building parties.”
After the parade, the floats were judged by a number of teachers and administrators, Han said. These
judges concluded that the class of 2016 had the best float, Han said.
Sophomore Genesie QuilizaCastellano, volunteered to help her class assemble the float. The
sophomore class decided to tackle the project by assigning each volunteer specific tasks, Castellano
said.
“From this experience I’ve learned a lot about time management,” Castellano said. “I had to balance
between getting the task done and making it perfect.” The float was a great representation of the
sophomore class’ hard work and dedication, Castellano said.
“It was pretty fulfilling to just be part of something that you can see a physical manifestation of,”
Castellano said.
Homecoming festivities were concluded with the finale to Homecoming Week: the Homecoming Dance
held in the large gym on Oct. 11.
The dance’s theme, like the Spirit Week decorations on campus, was “Board Game Heaven,” and
featured decorations inspired by various board games, ASB Secretary Leanne Aban said. “We made a
huge Twister board hung on one side of the gym and a balloon checker board on the wall behind the
DJ,” Aban said. “Besides decorations, we had two Twister boards and a life sized Jenga as extra
activities for people who didn’t want to dance.”
This year, the Homecoming dance was run by ASB as a whole instead of an individual class for its
second year in a row. This transition made for a more successful event overall, according to Aban.
“I think this is way better,” Aban said. “Because we’re all working together, classes have more time to
focus on their individual decorations and floats.”
The increasing popularity of the event also contributed to its success which shows in the rise of ticket
sales and revenues in comparison to last year’s Homecoming dance.
“We sold 514 tickets, which is 440 up from last year, and made approximately of $6800,” Aban said. “I
think it was hyped up for a lot of the underclassmen as their first dance.”
“I wanted to experience my first high school dance,” Freshman Karen Nguyen said. “I also just liked
being with my friends and dancing with them.”
Besides enjoying the company of her friends, she was also able to benefit by meeting new people.
Overall, the Homecoming Dance was a unique and positive experience, Nguyen said.
“I will be attending another high school dance in the future,” Nguyen said. “I want to experience the
events that our high school provides for us.”
