Palo Alto High School’s Associated Student Body (ASB) set a date and theme for this year’s Homecoming dance and has begun preparing for Spirit Week, which starts on Oct. 27.
ASB plans to make changes to include more students with different interests by planning a variety of games.
Like previous years, this year’s homecoming is set the weekend after Spirit Week on Nov. 1. ASB has decided that the theme of the dance will be a black and white ball. The dance will be formal, and students are encouraged to wear black, white, silver or gold.
This year, ASB is focusing on inclusion and planning activities for Spirit Week that will welcome students with various skills and interests.
“We want spirit week to relate to everyone in some way and encourage individuals to participate,” ASB secretary Joseph Kao said.
ASB is thinking about including new games such as Minute-to-Win-it type activities and Family Feud.
“We’re trying to increase the variety of the activities so that all types of people — creative [and] athletic — can be involved,” junior class president William Zhou said.
In addition, ASB has made major changes in the structure and rules of the Spirit Dance.
Instead of having auditions and selecting the top five students of both genders from each class, as done in previous years, ASB has eliminated the maximum cap of students allowed to participate and invites all those interested to join the dance team for their grade.
ASB encourages students to join by giving more points for each additional dancer after the 10 student minimum amount.
“I’m especially excited for this year’s Spirit Week because ASB is really focusing on inclusion. The first junior practice had almost 80 people which is eight times that of previous years,” Zhou said. “Of course with more people there are more challenges but the higher participation is definitely worth it.”
In addition, the long-awaited class themes have been chosen — freshmen are Lion King, sophomores are “Red Card” (soccer themed), juniors are pirates and seniors are “Green Light” (Great Gatsby themed).
“I’m more than just excited, I’m ecstatic!” Kao said. “I want Spirit Week to start right now.”
