The school parking lot was filled with students and parents enjoying the festivities during the annual Food Truck Fest at 6 p.m. on Aug. 15. The event, a fundraiser, was one of the two major fundraisers hosted by ASB to help fund their activities for the rest of the year. This year’s food truck selection included Akita Sushi, Thai Thai, La Burrita, The Bays Big Chicken, Kona Ice, Mister Softee Norcal and Teazentea. Other stands included Korean Corn Dogs and Matcha Matcha.
All of the festivities led up to the Homecoming reveal in the large gym at the end of the night. The theme, Warner Bros, was revealed, with seniors taking “Barbie,” juniors taking “Justice League,” sophomores taking “Harry Potter,” freshmen taking “Willy Wonka” and staff taking “The Lord of the Rings.”
Photo by Bryan Zhao
Students wait in line to order food from The Bays Big Chicken.
The food trucks and stands are part of a fundraiser for ASB and class offices.
“Each grade invites food trucks and generally earns around 10-20% of the profits. Matcha Matcha, a senior stand, earned around $1,200, so we did pretty well,” senior class president Blue Chankhunthod said.
The senior class officers also hosted a raffle awarding a free meal to two winners, further incentivizing purchases to raise funds for the senior class. To enter, students had to make a purchase at one of the senior trucks or stands which included Kona Ice, Matcha Matcha and La Burrita.
Photo by Bryan Zhao
Matcha Matcha stand sells out, with a line of 30 students for much of the event.
Alongside the trucks invited by class offices, clubs and organizations took advantage of the event to set up their own fundraising stands. For example, the speech and debate team capitalized on the hot weather to sell ice cream and popsicles.
Aside from food, ASB set up many activities including a bouncy-house obstacle course, two spike ball nets and ax tossing.
Photo by Bryan Zhao
Seniors Rian Khetani, Anjali Sahni, Nirvan Shah and Andrea Cordova play spikeball.
Photo by Bryan Zhao
Students race each other through the inflatable bouncy-house obstacle course.
Music filled the lot and added to the festivities, as the student-run band Pollen Prone was invited to perform at the fest for the third year in a row. The band features senior Alec Guan on guitar, senior Alex Ge on drums, junior Mason Cheng playing bass guitar and junior Victor Wu as the group’s singer.
Photo by Bryan Zhao
Junior singer Victor Wu, senior drummer Alex Ge and junior bassist Mason Cheng of student band Pollen Prone performs “Welcome to Paradise” by Green Day.
At 8 p.m., ASB showed the Homecoming reveal video, which was prepared by the school’s Tech Commission, consisting of seniors Ian Johnson, Christina Labban, Orion Tamas King, Milani Jain and Mindi Hendley and juniors David Huan and Kathy Bui.
The video centers on students, acting as characters from different movies, who attempt to open a pickle jar. The crowd of students burst into cheers as each was revealed.
“We chose Warner Bros (as the Homecoming theme) since it seemed like the most popular choice among the class offices and other commissions,” senior spirit commissioner Kusum Das said. “For each individual grade, we essentially just went with the vibe that we felt each class had.”
Generally, each class was happy with their themes, although there were some seniors who were disappointed with “Barbie,” because they didn’t resonate with the characters and theme as much.
“I’m not very happy with ‘Barbie.’ I feel like the theme I’d expect from senior year is one more centered on leadership,” senior Max Rombakh said. “Among others, a theme I would’ve preferred over ‘Barbie’ was ‘The Matrix.’”
Despite the usual grumbling about Homecoming themes, the evening provided a lively start to the fall semester.
“I think that our theme is a great fit, although I never truly watched it. Despite that, I think it’s really cool to have our theme as heroes. In comparison to other classes, I’d say I’m happy with ‘Justice League,’ but they’re all really popular and famous,” junior class president Kyle Liu said.
