Freshman president refuses to ‘go home,’ leads Homecoming

Bright green T-shirts, thundering cheering and green pompoms made a clear presence in one corner of the gym. Even though their officers had only been elected a week before, this year’s freshmen were well prepared for the first rally on Sept. 11. A big reason for their readiness was the work being done by freshman class president Roshan Verma.

Weeks before most people had even begun thinking about Homecoming, Verma was already planning the class of 2019’s Quad Day performance.

Verma, who was student body president of Redwood Middle School in eighth grade, was also an active member of the Leadership class last year and decided to take initiative in the freshman Homecoming process.

“Planning was complicated because people really couldn't enforce deadlines because there wasn't any real power [before our class officers got elected,] but our grade was really good about getting ahead,” Verma said.

Verma also credits the enthusiasm of the freshmen to their Homecoming theme, “The Lost City of Atlantis,” which he and his classmates agreed was better than most previous freshman themes.

Due to the early start in planning, Verma said that people stepped up, including the head of decorations and freshman class representative Cameron Lin, scriptwriters freshman class vice president Deyshna Pai and freshman Joan McCarthy and several choreographers including freshmen Lydia Payne, Max Zhuk, Ferennie Liu, Miya Uenaka and Alex Ruemmler.

Verma said he hopes to take advantage of the class spirit that the freshmen showed at the first rally to encourage involvement in Homecoming decorations and Quad Day.

In particular, Verma said he is thankful for the help of their class advisers, choir teacher Andrew Ford and attendance secretary Julia Peck. Ford said that although he and Peck have assisted the freshmen, they seem to know what they’re doing.

“Even before they had a president or a vice president, they were coming to us and talking about Homecoming and class shirts,” Ford said. “They were super organized coming in.”

According to Ford, the freshman class officers designed, ordered and delivered class T-shirts to roughly half the class in one week, an incredible feat.

In addition to establishing his class’ reputation in terms of class spirit, Verma has extensive knowledge of Quad Days, despite being a freshman. Thanks to his older sisters, class of 2013 alumna Sanjna Verma and class of 2014 alumna Sachi Verma, who participated in Homecoming while in high school, Verma said that he has known about Homecoming long before entering high school.

Verma has also received helpful advice from experienced ASB members such as junior treasurer Mitali Shanbhag and senior head commissioner Luke Salin, who have organized past Homecoming performances as class presidents.

While advising them and watching them through their preparations, Ford said that he noticed something different about this freshman class.

“I can’t explain it,” said Ford. “They are just an extremely rare and unique group of students.”