Falcons Fly High At Homecoming
The Dance-Intensive class takes to the stage at the Riverdale pep rally, pom poms in hand and ready to raise school spirit. This happened at the Homecoming pep rally on Friday, Sept. 27 at the end of the school day. Students were dismissed early from class to come down to the main gym to watch dances and varsity team performances.
Middle and Upper School Dance Program Coordinator Ms. Lauren Spagnulo, who choreographed Dance Intensive’s routine said, “We started on the first day of school. I had a music mix already made with a Sabrina Carpenter and a Missy Elliot song. We started putting it together from there … and the class had learned the dance in around eight to ten hours.”
This lack of time is not surprising as all members of Dance Intensive had to attend an audition after school last June to earn a spot in the class. These student performers could handle the rigorous rehearsals!
Ms. Spagnulo’s aim with the dance was to get people excited about Homecoming and supporting their teams. She even titled it “Let’s Go Riverdale!” This dance was performed during the halftime of the football game in addition to the pep rally. It was a great way to highlight the hard work that goes into the Riverdale dance program.
Another important part of Homecoming is the games themselves. Upon entering the main gym that Saturday at noon, one could see parents, teachers, and students alike sitting together. Parent volunteers walked up and down aisles, offering maroon pom poms and little black noise makers. It made everyone there ready to cheer on the girls’ Varsity Volleyball team.
That afternoon, Riverdale Girls Varsity Volleyball had won 3-0! This dynamic team took down Horace Mann in three sets straight that afternoon! What happened Horace Mann?
Boys’ Varsity Soccer had quite the game against Horace Mann as well. The first half was full of amazing blocks on both sides, leading the score to still be 0-0 by halftime. With three minutes left, Riverdale had the lead at 1-0 when HM scored their first goal to tie it up. Heading into overtime, Riverdale secured the win 3-1 with amazing goals by Jonah Miller and Alex Kho!
Earlier that day, Varsity Field Hockey took down Horace Mann with a win of 2-0! Amazing shots by Mekayla Gavin and Annabelle Blitzer helped dominate our biggest rivals on the Hill. Way to go!
Finally, despite the rain, our very own Varsity Football Team beat Poly Prep for the first time in many years! Down 6-0, Riverdale Varsity Football had an amazing comeback win of 13-6 to cap off the Homecoming day.
Tennis was tragically canceled due to the rain that day but everyone knows that they would taken down Fieldston!
Many ninth graders were more than happy to talk about their experiences at their first Riverdale Homecoming, discussing the abundance of school spirit they witnessed. With the school’s focus on academics and grades, it was wonderful to see people playing with and supporting their friends.
Many underclassmen had attended their first Homecoming this year and had plenty of thoughts on the school spirit they witnessed. An anonymous ninth-grader had no problem differentiating Riverdale’s spirit from their former school, they said, “It’s exciting, my old school didn’t do this kind of stuff.”
Jed Werber, another ninth-grader, also discussed the anticipation leading up to Homecoming saying, “My favorite thing leading up to it was spirit week.” With fun dress-up themes such as pajamas, Western Wednesdays, and black-out, students got into school spirit by showing up in creative outfits.
However, school spirit doesn’t have to be limited to Homecoming. Although that particular day is full of celebratory horns and pompoms, there are more ways to spread more Riverdale spirit throughout the year.
Ms. Spagnulo says that the key to doing so is to incorporate more pep rallies throughout the school year: “I feel like having things like pep rallies really does promote school spirit…I think it unifies everybody.”
This idea of unity is what Homecoming is all about. Everyone comes together as a school community to celebrate athletes, performers, and alumni. It is an event that exemplifies one of Riverdale’s greatest values: community.
