As a teaser to the 2022 West Ranch Homecoming dance, ASB hosted a Homecoming rally on Friday, Sept. 16 during brunch for students to get excited for both the upcoming homecoming football game and the dance. 

   Students piled into the large gym on Friday at around 10:12 a.m., and went to separate bleachers based on their grade level. Underclassmen stood on one side of the gym, and upperclassmen on the other, fueling the friendly rivalry that was tested in many of the rally’s activities. Senior Aliza Haque kicked off the Medieval Knight-themed rally by singing a rendition of the National Anthem that had crowds of students cheering. This was followed up by new principal Mr. Fisher introducing the different graduating classes with their own cheers to raise spirits ahead of the festivities. 

   In preparation for the numerous activities that took place throughout the rally, ASB member Siddharth Sudan explained that ASB “had to reach out to all of our wonderful performers, make posters and incorporate our theme into the decorations.” Because this rally was such a big event for both new and old students, Sudan explained that “within our rally, we wanted to make sure we included a lot of students within the rally itself, and we did just that with our activities.”

   After the introductory class cheers, West Ranch cheer and dance performed routines to raise spirits and to invigorate the crowd. These performances were followed by a mattress race challenge that ended in an inevitable win for the seniors.

   As a wrap-up to the performances, the hip hop team took to the floor and stunned the audience with another one of their popular routines. This performance was memorable to both the audience and the hip hop team. Mr. Echeverria, West Ranch’s hip hop adviser, explained, “I think what made it really memorable was having the extra personalities and having students that were willing to try other stunts to add more flare to the dance which gave more energy and it really did hype the crowd up.”

   Prior to the introduction of the king and queen nominees, the princes and princesses walked down the red carpet in grade-based pairs, which included Ty Diaz and Kendall Gustin for ninth grade, Colt Varner and Elika Faith Willis for tenth grade and Cassidy Clark with Zach Wyre for eleventh grade. 

   Finally, at the end of the rally, the long awaited introduction to the 2022 Homecoming Court was announced. The twelve homecoming court nominees were Wyatt Anderson, Sydney Berman, Bryce Blaugrund, Shefali Breitbach, Alyssa Chang, Roshen Edakkara, Emma Hamilton, Hope Hepburn, Tyffany Hyon, William Seidel, Ella Shin, Cameron Steen, Siddharth Sudan and Austin Varner.

   As they approached the red carpet, the seniors were introduced with a small speech about their involvement at West Ranch, their imaginary kingdom’s name, their favorite medieval creature and their favorite West Ranch teacher. Trios composed of two students and the boys’ moms walked down the red carpet and performed their own unique handshakes at the end of the walk.

   For West Ranch senior Shefali Breitbach, being on homecoming court proved to be an unforgettable experience: “At the rally, the homecoming court got to walk out, the boys with their moms and their partner. We all made up cute little handshakes with our partners as we walked down. After the rally, we all took a homecoming court picture. It was such a blast being in the rally and the students’ energy was amazing.”

   As the students walked the carpet, the homecoming court seniors were given shout-outs and many of their achievements throughout their time at West Ranch were highlighted. Not only did seniors get to look forward to the future, but also back to the past. 

   “It was meaningful to be a part of homecoming court my senior year because I got to share the experience with some of my closest friends and think about how much we’ve grown since freshman year homecoming,” senior Tiffany Hyon said. 

   The end of the rally brought with it excitement for that night’s homecoming football game and all of the year’s upcoming events, successfully kicking off the new 2022-2023 school year. As homecoming court member Roshen Edakkara summarized, the experience “is something I’ll never forget no matter how old I get.”