After a week of spirit and fun, TJ winds down the annual Homecoming week with a great dance.
King Marcus Allen and Queen Angela Becker celebrate at the homecoming dance. Photo by Tori Wallace
Starting on Monday, September 17, TJ students anticipated the dance all week by celebrating spirit days and going to the football game on Friday night, September 21, until the dance on Saturday night, September 22.
Monday was the first Spirit day and the theme was “Twin Day.” Students organized themselves with friends as they dressed alike as their own character or famous sets of twins from books, movies, and TV shows. Tuesday was “Back in the Day” day. Students turned on the way-back machine and wore old sweaters and clothes that came from a different time’s wardrobe. Wednesday was “Neon/Tie-Dye” day. Students walked in the front doors in brightly colored shirts, pants, and even shoes that made them stand out in any crowd. Since there was no school on Friday, Thursday then became “TJ” day. Students wore brown and gold attire while getting pumped for the upcoming pep rally.
The pep rally was, once again, a raucous occasion as each class was cheering and yelling for their respective graduating year. Seniors Amanda Koziol and Marcus Allen served as emcees for the pep rally. The TJ tradition “Senior Hot Boyz” took center stage first. A week of practice showed as the boys danced to a perfectly choreographed segment for the entire school to see. Senior performer Tyler Moehlman said, “it was great to continue the legend.” As always at the pep rally, each fall sports team came to center court and did their cheer to hype the crowd. At the end of the pep rally the Homecoming King and Queen were announced. Homecoming King was football player Marcus Allen and the Queen was volleyball player Angela Becker.
Even though Friday was a non-student contact day, it did not mean that the Homecoming festivities ended. Friday was a tailgate in preparation for the football game against Lincoln that night. The tailgate started with each class painting and decorating a car with their class number and class name. Then the attention shifted to Powder Puff, the tradition of the Senior and Junior girls playing a flag football game in a face-off between the upperclassmen. The Senior girls won, 14-0 and, according to Coach Brandon Gutierrez at the Homecoming game, “(They) won fair and square. No cheating whatsoever.” After a lighthearted game, boys’ soccer took the field to play rival East, in a tightly contested game, which the Spartans lost 2-0.
Once the soccer game ended, students headed over to All City Field to watch the Spartan Football crew play the Lincoln Lancers. TJ dominated over the Lancers, 39-14, which enhanced the students’ excitement. At halftime, the Homecoming Court was announced. As second half action began, the Spartans continued to play a great game. Senior quarterback Nick Lednev said, “We put a great game together for the students and faculty.”
Finally, to cap off the week, the Homecoming dance arrived. Students gathered in groups with their dates and friends to dance the beautiful fall night away. World Language Teacher Kyler Jackson was the DJ, and he played every genre of song from country to hip-hop. Parents from the class of 2013 sold drinks to students, and the administration kept a close eye and keen ear out for the students’ safety. The brown and gold theme was first shown to students with a beautiful arrange of brown, gold, and white balloons. Senior Quinn Riesenman put it simply when he said, “The music was great, dancing was fun, just an overall great night.”
