San Dimas High School celebrated Homecoming for three days: a rally on October 17th, a parade and football game on October 18th, and a dance on October 19th.

The rally took place on October 17th after the Great Shakeout in the SDHS gym. ASB students used the movie “Top Gun” as inspiration for this year’s Homecoming theme of the Aviator Ball. The school rally and the dance both corresponded with the theme. The rally was a fantastic display of ASB’s hard work and showed off the spirit of the school with performances from the Dance Team and Cheer Squad. The main purpose of the rally is to announce the Homecoming King. This year the Homecoming Princes were Ethan Zementra, Jacob Moscoso, Jean-Luc Brodeur, Jordan Garcia, and Nick Melodia. At the end of the rally, Jean-Luc Brodeur was revealed to be this year’s Homecoming King. Congratulations to Jean-Luc! The Top Gun themed rally kicked off the Homecoming celebrations, getting students “very excited for the rest of the events, like the parade, football game, and especially the dance,” –Junior, Audrey Shlim. In addition to the rally, ASB planned a spirit week that went hand-in-hand with the theme selected for this year’s events. ASB students also help to plan, orchestrate, and clean up this year’s Homecoming parade. 

The annual Homecoming parade took place in Downtown San Dimas on October 18th. The parade included members of the city council, elementary schools within the district, Lone Hill Middle School’s WEB, ASB, and Band programs, and various groups from San Dimas High. These high school groups included the administration team, each of the classes in car decorated to represent their class color, the SDHS Counseling Team, Classified Staff Member of the Year, the Dance Team, the Cheer Squad, the Drama Program, the Spanish National Honors Society, Lady Saints Basketball and Wrestling, Girls Flag Football, Freshmen Football Team, the SD Golf Team, Choir, the San Dimas Car Show Winners, and our Homecoming royalty. The SDHS Band not only leads the Homecoming Parade but its Drumline serves as the parade finale. The parade’s main attraction was amazing with each Homecoming Princesses riding atop their own convertible waving to the gathered crowd. This parade is a time-honored tradition which is very special to the San Dimas community. For over a decade now students, alumni, parents, grandparents, and community members alike flock to Downtown San Dimas each year to take part in this celebration of Homecoming. Community members look forward to the parade and hope it will withstand the test of time. “I love this parade and come out to watch it even though my own kids have been out of school for years. It’s just a fun time with family and friends. My husband and I look forward to it every year,” –San Dimas High Alumni, Joan Marusich.

After the parade this year, fans rushed to the Saints Stadium for the Homecoming football game against Baldwin Park. The score of the game was 64-33, with the Saints claiming a solid victory. The Saints scored a touchdown with the first play of the game and that set the tone for the remainder of the night. Our Saints crushed the Baldwin Park Braves who left the Saints Stadium after quite an embarrassing loss. During halftime, the Homecoming Queen was crowned by last year’s queen, Aubrey Hays. This year’s Homecoming Princesses were Riley Tsonas, Ireland Ries, Priscilla Romero, Natalie Lutz, and Skylar Fredieu. This year’s beautiful Homecoming Queen was Priscilla Romero. When asked she said that, “….” –Senior, Priscilla Romero. Congratulations to Priscilla! San Dimas High is honored to have you as our queen.

This year’s Homecoming Dance, The Aviator Ball, was held at Hanger 21 in Fullerton. Groups of students met up before the dance to take photos together, some for their final Homecoming. Popular photo sites were LaVerne College and the Cal Poly Rose Garden, though others also took photos at home. Like many other seniors, Isa Martinez felt that “Homecoming is bittersweet since it’s my last one”. Many friend groups organized ahead of time and either drove or took a party bus together. The party buses are always popular with students who want to hang out and dance together on the way to the venue, “our party bus was so much fun!” –Freshman, Janiya Jones. Once at the Hanger 21, students and party-goers were able to hang out either indoors or out. The weather was great, the venue was beautiful and students were able to dance, play games, get their photos taken in a photo booth, and even chat with some of their favorite teachers who also attended the dance to chaperone. The dance was the perfect end to this year’s Homecoming celebrations!