Homecoming Hits and Misses

Hills West’s pep rally and homecoming arrived early this year, and it was undeniably filled with energy and spirit from the devoted Hills West student body. The overarching theme was Hollywood movies – starring the superhero seniors, animated juniors, science-fiction sophomores and fantasy freshmen. Each grade had the opportunity to take on different personas and express their school pride during spirit week.

Sophomore Shira Zornberg states, “I thought homecoming was a lot of fun. The pride and enthusiasm from everyone who goes and the people in the stands just makes it a wonderful and exciting experience. I love that in most schools if you say that you’re going to homecoming people ask “Why?”, but in our school if you say you’re not going, that’s when people ask “Why?””

The seniors were full of excitement for their final homecoming, as well as their opportunity to storm the gym during the in-school pep rally. Senior Aneesah Abdallah expressed her content with homecoming by saying, “I like how every grade comes together and everyone forgets about their different friend groups for a couple of days and just comes together.”

Fellow Senior Puja Patel said, “To be completely honest, when the juniors were announced as winners, I was really disappointed. But I did have to agree with the fact that the juniors’ float, banner and dance were actually very impressive! I guess I was just upset because I had spent hours just working on the homecoming float, and I thought all the hard work was going to pay off… I mean it did but I kind of expected to be in first place. But the best thing about this outcome was when most of the seniors mentioned the success of our last two years. It was just so exciting to see our classmates appreciate all the work that was put into homecoming and the support was unbelievable!”

Freshman Grace Park was surprised by the enthusiasm of her fellow students at her first pep-rally. Grace states “I couldn’t believe how loud the upper-class men cheered. Next year our grade will definitely try harder.”

Although the seniors did not accomplish a “threepeat” by winning homecoming for the third year in a row, they took on a humorous approach to their loss. Wearing their junior tanks and t-shirts from last year made for an interesting Monday morning after a hectic weekend. Aneesah said, “Even though the joke wasn’t really that funny, I still enjoyed it because I liked how our grade came together, and that so many people decided to wear the junior shirts!”

The juniors celebrated their win with the hashtag #AnimationDomination, in reference to their theme. Junior Lilly Millman proclaimed her class pride by saying, “I love how my grade overcame all the challenges of homecoming this year, and I was extremely proud of everyone involved. This has been my best homecoming yet, and I can’t wait for next year.”

Ultimately, the seniors were upset to have lost but look forward to their final year at Hills West.