By Maria Riegel, Special Writer
Last week was Homecoming at South Brunswick High School featuring a bonfire Thursday and a victorious football game on Friday.
The school hosted its second annual pre-homecoming bonfire on in the high school’s main entrance parking lot.
The bonfire was free and was open to all South Brunswick High School students and families, and also community members.
”The Bonfire is to get people excited about Homecoming and it takes the place of our fall pep rally,” Activities Coordinator Gina Welsh said.
All fall sports teams were recognized with the team captains and senior athletes especially highlighted according to Ms. Welsh.
Ms. Welsh said that improvements were made from last year’s bonfire, which was held in the front of the school as opposed to it being held in the senior parking lot.
According to Mss. Welsh, the high school was granted permission this year to have the fire on the hill behind the front parking lot where there are no trees; however, she said attendees were still restricted in regards to how close they could be to the fire.
In addition, the school was also allowed to have a slightly larger fire than last year, according to Ms. Welsh.
The stage for the various presentations was set up in front of the fire, with The Sketch–Up Club providing the entertainment for the event.
After the bonfire concluded, music was played and all attendees were encouraged to dance by Student Council officers who lead the dance party on the stage.
Snacks were sold by the PTO as well as Project Graduation.
Although there was no charge for admission, attendees needed to bring money to buy snacks. In addition, the Student Council sold SBHS hats, scarves, and blankets.
Student Council Advisor Kelly Boyer said that this is her first year as the Student Council advisor, so she was not able to attend last year’s bonfire.
However, she said that after speaking to the previous advisor, Lauren Morris, she believes that this year’s event was more successful than last year.
”I was really happy with the bonfire this year,” Ms. Boyer said. “I was especially happy with the turnout.”
Ms. Boyer said that next year she would like to begin the bonfire earlier and also have a tailgating party before it starts.
”I know students want to have ‘hang out’ time before it begins,” Ms. Boyer said.
Student Council President Tessa Trach agreed that the bonfire was successful this year.
”The Bonfire was 1,000 times better than last year,” Tessa said. “The attendance was great.”
SBHS also hosted its Homecoming game Friday night with the Vikings beating J.P. Stevens by a score of 35-7.
The half time show consisted of the annual float parade and a performance by the South Brunswick Vikings Marching Band.
The float theme this year was “Travel the World” so all of the floats were representations of places one could travel to.
The freshman float represented Egypt, the sophomore float represented Hawaii, the junior float represented London and the senior float represented Paris.
The SBHS club Dead Presidents Society created a float representing the Berlin Wall and the Student Council’s float was an airplane entitled ‘SBHS Air.’
”All of the floats were amazingly beautiful this year,” Tessa said.
In addition, all Homecoming Court members were introduced during the halftime show and the Homecoming King and Queen were crowned.
Court members included Gianna Rosamilia, Christina Gramieri, Patricia Walsh, Karen Reyes, Natasha Pande, Victoria Monteiro, Julia Hernandez, Jimmy Quilter, Matthew James, Quentin Madia, Michael Moriarty, Rory Monaghan, Tommy Fisher, and Jake Izzo.
Patricia Walsh and Jimmy Quilter were crowned Homecoming Queen and King after the float parade.
The Student Council also collected donations for breast cancer awareness during the Homecoming game according to Tessa.
She said that the council will continue to accept donations toward through the month of October.
Ms. Boyer said that she felt the bonfire and Homecoming went well this year.
”I’m excited about next year’s round two,” Ms. Boyer said. “The experience is priceless.”
