Completed by Jenna Walter/Executive Theme Editor, Charlotte Levy/Theme Editor, Alana Frank/Photo Manager
Mira Costa’s Associated Student Body (ASB) organized a week of Homecoming festivities including dress up days, a pep rally, football game and annual Homecoming dance in Costa’s athletic complex on Oct. 15.
During the week leading up to Homecoming, the 12-person Homecoming court played games in the Mustang Mall at lunch and dressed up each day of the week. Each pair on the court wore costumes for each day’s themes: food combinations, iconic duos, senior citizens, rhyme without reason, and Mustang football jerseys.
“The Homecoming court played a spirit game every day at lunch,” said senior ASB officer Grace Riker. “They did a water balloon toss, musical chairs, potato sack racing, and dodgeball.”
Costa students showed school spirit by participating in dress-up days throughout the week of Oct. 10-14. The themes for students were mathlete vs. athlete, country vs. country club, on Wednesdays we wear pink, PJs vs. professional, and green vs. gold.
“My favorite dress up day was country vs. country club,” said junior Ashna Patel. “I also liked green vs. gold day because the Costa spirit was strong.”
Mira Costa held its annual Homecoming pep rally on Oct. 14 in the main gym to raise school spirit for the Homecoming football game vs. Santa Monica High School.The rally featured performances by the dance team, cheer team, and students on Homecoming court. The rally was organized and led by Costa’s ASB, with help from Athletic Director Mike Rosenthal, Principal Dr. Karina Gerger, and the performers.
“ASB’s preparation for the pep rally entails planning the agenda of the rally, choosing games and students for class wars and promoting the event to raise excitement and spirit,” said senior and ASB President Reece Riley.
During the rally, Gerger noted that it was the first time the entire school was in the new sports complex together. The rally took place in the 20,500-square foot gym that seats 2,100 spectators. Students were seated in different sections of the bleachers according to class.
“I definitely think students were excited, especially since it was our first-ever pep rally in the new gym,” said ASB club coordinator and senior Madison Calder. “I also think that people were excited to see dance team, cheer, and the hoco court perform.”
Dance and cheer collaborated for their annual pep rally performance. The dance team performed to a mashup of songs, while the cheer team presented a variety of stunts, including, back handsprings and somersaults. According to dance captain Sam Gin, dance team hired a guest choreographer to teach their dance. Dance and cheer practiced together the week prior to the performance.
“I think it’s important for collaboration [between dance and cheer] to eliminate any tensions between the teams a to come together to showcase school unity and spirit,” said JV dance lead Skylar Apirian. “Dance team loves working with cheer and looks forward to the performance every year.”
After the performance, ASB officers Olivia Gentry and Sophia Parsley facilitated a class wars game, which was won by the junior team. Each team had four players who had to compete in a wheelbarrow race, followed by a balloon popping challenge.
“I truly enjoyed watching the pep rally. I liked watching the dance and cheer teams perform” said sophomore Samantha Ehrlich-Fein. “It got me excited for the Homecoming game, and it was cool to see the whole school together.”
Lastly, the 12 Homecoming court members danced to a mashup of songs, then broke into smaller groups to perform short routines. The pep rally concluded with the court recreating a scene from the movie “High School Musical” by dancing to the song “We’re All in This Together.” Homecoming court nominee and dance team captain Ariel Dupin choreographed all the group sections of the court routine.
“The Homecoming court decided to dance to ‘We’re All in This Together’ [because] it is a court tradition to end the dance with this song, and our goal has been to communicate the expectation that Mustangs are inclusive and supportive of one another,” said Riley. “We can only achieve this goal by us all being in it together.”
The theme of the Homecoming dance was “Manhattan to Manhattan.” The pavilion gym was decorated as Manhattan Beach, California, and the main gym as Manhattan, New York. Both gyms had a DJ, dance floor, respective decorations and photo ops. The pavilion had beach-theme balloons and leis for students to wear.
“We decided on the theme over the summer and have been ordering decorations and such ever since,” said junior ASB officer Mia Langstein. “Most of the planning was done by Mrs. Claypoole and commissioners of entertainment Ava Federici, James Reach, and myself.”
The dance was held from 7 to 11:00 p.m. and included dinner, dancing, and games. There were carnival-themed snack stands outside that provided cotton candy, popcorn, churros, snow cones and punch. Behind the food stands were games such as cornhole, and students could sing karaoke in room 81 and receive caricatures and airbrush tattoos outside the athletic complex.
“It really was a collective effort from every single person in ASB,” said Langstein. “Whether it was selling tickets or making decorations, everyone helped out no matter what their job [was].”
All upperclassmen were able to vote for up to six court nominees that were nominated from campus clubs, sports and organizations. The Homecoming court was comprised of the 12 students with the highest vote count, and they were given sashes at lunch.
“I was so honored that my dance teammates chose me for the court,” said Dupin. “I’ve been looking forward to this experience since freshman year, and I was so glad dance team was there to support me at halftime during the ceremony.”
Mustang Morning News video editor Kyle Farrel produced a video played at halftime that revealed the Homecoming royalty Roi Clinton and Lizzy Flemming.
“It was a fun experience, and the whole Homecoming court was amazing,” said Riker. “[I wish a huge] congrats to Roi and Lizzy.”
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