Northwood’s Homecoming Rally, the first since the COVID-19 pandemic started in March 2020, was held on Oct. 22 in preparation for the Homecoming Dance on Oct. 31.
Spearheaded by ASB, the rally ran smoothly with impressive showings from different student-led groups. With the “Fantasmic” marching band show, fun choreography from the Dance Team and ASB and an exciting performance from Pep Squad, nothing was amiss from Northwood’s first rally of the year.
“I enjoyed watching a rally for the first time in a while,” junior Jade Niu said. “I think ASB did a good job of bringing the same energy from typical rallies in the gym to the football field.”
Initially, ASB struggled with organizing the rally outdoors, as the setup for this year’s rally was completely different from the typical rally layout to comply with COVID-19 guidelines.
“Making sure the sound systems and the spacing on the field worked was much harder in an open place as opposed to inside the gym,” Boys Athletic Commissioner junior Aditya Hari said. “Snigdha, Jenny, and Haley as well as our Rally Commissioners Luke and Nicky helped make sure that even if it was outside, everything would move along efficiently and on time.”
ASB’s perseverance allowed for the groups involved in the rally to have more freedom with their programs. For example, Pep Squad had a blast preparing stunts to go along with music as they made a routine to perform in front of the school.
“Usually we would perform a dance as well, but we decided to put together a showcase of stunts,” Varsity cheerleader junior Sophia Kuftedijan said. “The rally was super fun considering the fact it was a little different from previous years, and I had a great time getting the opportunity to pump up our school before homecoming!”
Marching band thrived under the new conditions, accustomed to playing outdoors during football games and other events.
“The rally performance was very similar to our kickoff performance at the start of the season,” Homecoming Court Nominee and Marching Band player senior Ritwik Kumar said. “The only major change is that usually we face the hills instead of the practice field but that’s an easy adjustment.
However, several members of the Homecoming Court faced challenges transitioning between the sets as half of them performed as part of the band.
“The transition was pretty smooth in general but it was a little difficult for me because I had a sousaphone on while going through the crowd,” Kumar said. “I was trying not to hit anyone but it worked out in the end.”
Overall, the Homecoming Rally was a success. Even with an unfamiliar setting and difficult conditions, Northwood students combined efforts and were able to pull off an exciting event for all students to enjoy.
“I think the rally was a pretty good lead-in for Homecoming,” Rally Commissioner senior Luke Garcia said. “Nicky did an awesome job hyping up the crowd and making sure everything went according to plan.”
The Homecoming Dance will be held on Oct. 29 with a theme of nostalgia, including smaller themes like food for freshmen, books and comics for sophomores, toys and games for juniors and movies and T.V shows for seniors. The dance will be held at the Oak instead of the gym like past years, and it’ll be interesting to see what ASB has in store.