Captured and taken away to Neverland, students from Terra Linda High School all gathered on one, dimly lit, night in September to celebrate the Varsity football homecoming game win.

Starting the week of the homecoming game, all grades participated in spirit week where students dressed in pajamas, preppy gear, tie-dye outfits, jerseys, and class colors. The school had a pep rally on Friday, based off the homecoming dance theme of Peter Pan. After the Homecoming court walked down the red carpet in the gym, they put on a skit which helped to excite everyone for the dance to come that Saturday night after the Homecoming football game which was to be held on the Terra Linda field.  

On Saturday, the Homecoming parade came to TL before the Varsity game started. The parade was lead by the Freshmen dressed as the Lost Boys, followed by the Sophomores who depicted the opening bedroom scene where Wendy and her brothers first meet Peter Pan, Juniors dressed up as the pirates, and finally, the Seniors as mermaids and the homecoming parade couples in convertibles.

The Varsity game was a spectacular win of 49 to 14 against the Redwood Giants. It started off with a kickoff from the Trojans who soon dominated the rest of the game leading up to their big win. Anthony Moreno, a Junior, plays defense and offense receiver on the team. He expressed to us that the win “felt really good since we were on our home field.” Even though the score was 49-14,  Trojans, Moreno said it was a hard game since it was against Redwood, a skilled team. During the second half, it became easier because Trojan players feel that Redwood is one of those teams who give up if they go into the second half losing. To prepare for the game, Moreno said that the team did a lot of preconditioning for the game so the team executed the game plan very well.

Once 8:00 rolled around on Saturday night, everyone was lined up and ready for the big night ahead. But due to the increasing problem of people coming to dances intoxicated, most students got in later than 8:00 because of having to take breathalyzer tests upon entering. The wait was lengthened as there were separate lines for boys and girls. Since the students were split up and there were only two security guards in control of the situation, some students didn’t get in until an hour after the dance had started. But once students got in, they saw the whole gym was transformed into a scene straight out of a Peter Pan Movie making it worth the wait.

It felt as if we had traveled through the sky to Neverland. After entering, there were many different places to visit—the photoshoot area in the corner, fairy lights on the bleachers, and a huge DJ stand in the middle with a line of balloons around it. The DJ’s played “All Night” By Chance The Rapper which got just about everyone on their feet, onto the dance floor. Homecoming was even more impressive than expected and it was thanks to ASB and their dedicated 7 AM to about 4 PM set up. “In middle school, the music was not nearly as good. However, I think the decorations from the eighth-grade dance were a lot better than the decorations for Homecoming since the Homecoming decorations mainly revolved around the entrance arch,” Rachel McDaniel explained. McDaniel also believes that most people would probably agree to put up fans inside the auditorium during the dance to be able to cool down more, but that was mostly taken care of since the doors were open the whole night to a food bar and water stand outside.

In the middle of the dance, Frances Applegarth and Dom Martinez were crowned homecoming king and queen. After accepting their crowns, they danced to Lost Boy by Ruth B, in accordance with the theme of Neverland.

Throughout the night everyone was constantly dancing no matter how tired they were.  Two people who had everyone dancing were Jordan Garcia, TL Sophomore, and Luna Barajas, a visiting student from Marin School of the Arts. Towards the end of the night, a circle had formed around Barajas and Garcia during the song, “That’s What I Like” by Bruno Mars. Luna and Jordan were dancing together while everyone around them cheered and screamed. Towards the end of the night, however, things got so crazy students started crowd surfing. A senior, Mary Huynh was lifted up by people around her to crowd surf unexpectedly. She was lifted up along with another senior, Matt Peters. Then, an arm grabbed her leg and a teacher forced Mary and Matt to come down and leave the dance. All in all, Mary explained she had an amazing time and that crowd surfing was definitely an unforgettable experience.

Homecoming week was truly unforgettable—from the fun spirit days to the amazing football game where the Trojans dominated the Redwood Giants. Finally, to celebrate the win, at the Neverland-themed dance everyone sang along to the songs, danced, and even crowd surfed.