Homecoming 2021: A “Nightmare” To Remember

With Selma High School diving back into most of its annual events, the  annual Homecoming was held on the week of October 11th to the 15th. Homecoming week was filled with dress up days and school spirit activities. It also included homecoming royalty nominees campaigning and participating in daily events. 

Monday was Monster day where some students dressed in pairs of monsters like shrek and fiona, Tuesday was Tie-Dye day, and Wednesday was celebrity day.  Students dressed up as celebrities ranging from Kim Kardashian to Harry Styles. School Spirit day was Thursday, and students were encouraged to come  in school merchandise and colors. Friday was black out day due to the Homecoming football game against Exeter. 

“I’m a senior this year, and I want to make the best of it,” stated Hope Garnica. “Participating in dress up days for school is a way for me to get out of my comfort zone and have fun.” Garnica dressed up for each day of homecoming week, with her most creative outfit being Harry Styles from the VMA’s on celebrity day. 

Throughout the week, different activities were held at lunch for the homecoming royalty to participate in. Homecoming royalty includes the freshman, sophomore, and junior prince and princesses, as well as the  three pairs of seniors running for king and queen. This year, the freshman prince and princess were Jordan Alverado and Daviana Chavez. The sophomore royalty were Mathew Mora and Emily Pallesi, and the junior prince and princess were Daniel Arevalo and Sydney Sanchez. The senior nominees included Cesar Rocha and Marytza Morales, Dominic Quintana and Mia Harris, and lastly Abigail Baker and Exodus Rodriguez. 

As for activities, Monday was a tug of war where the three homecoming king and queen pairs went against each other. Tuesday was an egg toss in which each couple received two eggs, and had to toss the two eggs at the same time, while walking backwards without breaking the eggs. 

Wednesday consisted of an obstacle course, but the trick was that the participants were blindfolded. Thursday was dodgeball, and Friday was when the three different pairs performed their choreographed dances during lunch. Friday’s lunch was also extended to a little over an hour to accommodate for the homecoming pairs’ dances. There were even outside vendors in food trucks and stands. 

“The band, cheer, Mexican Dance, [and] the food booths [made it so it] was like being at the Fresno fair,” exclaimed Activities Director Michael Pallesi. Pallesi has been the activities director for three years now and has a main goal of making the high school events enjoyable and fun for the students. 

At the Friday football game, the class skits were held during the window after junior varsity’s game and right before the varsity game started. Each class chose a theme surrounding halloween. The freshman class was Stephan King’s It. The sophomore class chose Goosebumps. The juniors were a mixture of all halloween topics, their main theme being “The Junior Horror House,” and the seniors wereThe Purge. Each class had a float representing their theme and a skit where they performed their dance which represented their chosen theme. The junior’s Horror House won the float and skit competition. The sophomore’s followed them with second place, the freshman came in third, with last place going to the senior class.

The winners of the best float and skits were announced during halftime of the varsity game, as were the homecoming king and queen. During halftime, the freshman, sophomore, and junior royalty were introduced followed by the three pairs of seniors running for king and queen. Last year’s king and queen, Juliana Colado and Todd Weaver, presented the crowns to this year’s announced king and queen. Cesar Rocha and Marytza Morales were crowned as the 2021 homecoming king and queen. 

“Being crowned was such an overwhelming feeling of support from everyone, especially the crowd in the stands,” exclaimed Morales. “I’m very grateful to have been given the opportunity to make memories like that,” she went on.

Rocha displayed the same type of excitement. 

“It was a great feeling,” Rocha explained. “For a second I felt as if I was on top of the world.” 

This series of homecoming events at the football game were followed by a homecoming dance. The dance began at 9:30 which coincided with the end of the football game. The theme of the dance was Nightmare on Oski Street. 

“We just tried to add a little bit of Halloween to the dance,” stated Mr. Pallesi. 

Even though the Selma Bears were not victorious in their homecoming football game against Exeter, Selma High had an intricately planned and executed homecoming with events encouraging school spirit and the welcoming feeling of being back on campus.