Homecoming spirit remains strong despite changes over the years

Ever since the school’s beginnings almost six decades ago, Homecoming has been an annual tradition. Originally intended to welcome alumni back and keep them a part of the community, the event has shifted throughout the years to focus more on celebrating school spirit and competition among classes.

According to Spanish teacher Arnaldo Rodriguex, who has been teaching here for more than 40 years, specific traditions have sometimes faded away. For instance, when he started in the ‘70s, each class built floats and paraded them around downtown Saratoga while accompanied by the band and cheer team.

Then a few years later, the float parade was moved to the Los Gatos High football field, since SHS did not have a field with lights for night football games.

Rodriguex specifically recalled the school’s Homecoming in 1989, the year of the Loma Prieta earthquake. It was the one year the floats were paraded in Saratoga because the earthquake prevented students from driving their floats to Los Gatos.

School officials eventually decided that the floats were too time-consuming to make and inconvenient, since they had to be transported to Los Gatos.

“One year the junior class built a gingerbread house for their float, and when they were driving it to Los Gatos, it fell off the truck and blocked the entire road,” Rodriguex said. “The school thought they should tone things down and have one less thing for the students to worry about.”

With the floats gone, students became more involved in the quad decorations. When she started teaching here 35 years ago, AP US History teacher Kim Anzalone recalls that “early in the morning it got absolutely crazy with everybody putting up their decorations. They would be here all night setting up their part of the quad, so that it was a big surprise for everybody the next day.”

In addition, there used to be more activities during each the quad days for each class — not just skits and dances. Students organized competitive games between the classes during the day in the quad like Tug of War and The Floor is Lava.

Starting in the early 2000s, however, the dances became the main focus of Homecoming. For years now, quad days have more closely resembled big-stage musicals rather than the carnival atmosphere that characterized the first several decades of the event.

Anzalone has also noticed an increase in student participation and and time spent in Homecoming.

“I just feel like some of the classes put in so much time and effort that I worry about them getting sick or something because they put more time into it than they used to,” Anzalone said.

In addition to becoming more time-consuming, the dances and skits have also strayed from the Homecoming themes.

“The students used to have dances, but they had to relate directly to the theme,” Rodriguex said. “Now it seems like they decorate to the theme but can do whatever they want for the dances, and in my opinion that slightly defeats the purpose.”

But no matter how the specifics of Homecoming have changed, the overall effect is still the same, and it continues to be a time for students to show school spirit and have fun.

“I like how competitive and involved everyone is,” Spanish teacher Bret Yeilding said, “and it’s a real treat to see students enjoying themselves and engaging in something besides studying.”