By Victoria Li ’18, Staff Writer

Homecoming Day is an event that caters to everyone’s interests. It’s filled with silly competitions, exciting sports events, and to top it all off, a semi-formal dance night. We all enjoy these wonderful festivities, but we never really stop to wonder: Who organizes all these amazing events?
If you squint hard enough, the word ‘homecoming’ can be split into two words: coming home. This day is dedicated to the alumni who are coming home to Newark Academy, and the Advancement and Alumni Relations Office dedicate lots of time and money to make the alumni reunion banquet dinners and the award presentations the best that they can be. Usually people never think of these events as part of Homecoming Day; we just walk past those large awkward pictures of alumni in the hallway. Along with these two main events come the traditional events that have been held on Homecoming Day for years. Some favorites include the inflatables, sack races, and even selfie contests.

However, not all of Homecoming is planned by the Advancement Office. The grand finale, the Homecoming Dance, was sponsored by none other than the Student Council. This year’s theme was “Enchanted Forest.” The way the Student Council came up with that theme, as divulged by sophomore president Allen Zhu, was, “If one of us had an idea for a theme, we thoroughly discussed it. Then we voted on the ideas that made the cut.” It’s a pretty creative way to think of themes, and it worked, judging by the success of this year’s Homecoming dance. “I really liked all the beautiful decorations, like the trees, and the music playlist was amazing!” exclaims Christine Pan ‘18. “The cream puffs at the dessert table made my whole entire week,” admitted an anonymous student. The attendance of this year’s dance blew last year’s out of the water. “The student council also runs the grill and helps supervise throughout the day,” added Ryan Gajarawala ’18, a member of the sophomore student council.

Let’s not forget about the sports events! This year we had many exhilarating games and matches. Minuteman Football celebrated a win against Harvey, giving them their fourth win in a row. Johnny Capobianco ‘16, one of the captains of the cross-country team, broke the school’s 5K record at Branch Brook Park with a time of 17:01. The girls tennis team had a nice victory against McNair Academic High School, winning 5-0. Athletes, after finishing their games, didn’t hesitate to participate in Homecoming Day events. Many went to cheer on their fellow classmates in other sports. When planning the sports schedule, the Athletics Department made sure that none of the games overlapped so the Red Army could rock the stands at each and every one of them.

Homecoming Day could not have come together without the dedicated work of the various departments or the student council. To those of us not involved, it just seems like magic. But in reality, planning such a spectacular event requires hours of work, design, and dedication. In the words of Ryan Gajarawala, when Homecoming Day all comes together, “it’s pretty sick.”