The Herricks School District community was brought together at the girls soccer field last Friday to attend the traditional homecoming barbeque, which included inflatable rides, carnival games, face painting and cotton candy.
“It’s a community event which we all work hard on,” said Brian Hodge, assistant principal of Herricks High School. “This tradition has been going on for three years, starting with a barbeque in 2008. A day when the entire community can forget about all budgetary problems and focus on what’s truly great about Herricks – unity.”
Before the barbeque started, the high school students competed in a series of relays involving balancing an egg on a spoon while racing, a potato sack race, and a jump rope race.
The events were part of the schools “spirit week”, in which different grades compete with one another through various competitions. Some events include building a float, plaque, relay races, and various other contests.
Herrick homecoming theme for 2011 was “Peace and Love.”
Sachit Singal, a sophomore student government treasurer explained how each grade was tasked with designing a plaque that “best represents” the theme and described the creation of his grade’s plaque.
The plaque is painted with the school’s blue and white colors, with two hands protruding from the plaque holding a dove, three hearts, and a globe, Singal said.
“Before making our plaque we wanted to keep in my mind exactly what are grade stands for which is peace, love, and we believe strongly in extending a helping hand for those who need our help,” Singal said. “A dove, which is symbol of peace, three hearts to symbol our great love towards the school and a globe that symbolizes our unity as a grade and furthermore our unity as a school.”
Helping with the plaque was Lisa Boneta, who serves as vice president on the sophomore student government.
“Homecoming really brings everyone together and it shows how connected our district is,” Boneta said as she pointed to the huge crowd composed of children and adults.
Also helping in the creation of the plaque was sophomores Alex Paresi, Angel Ding, Jennifer Louie, Esther Chen, Jane Lee and Ankoor Tal War.
Sophomore co-advisor and Herricks High teacher Mike Tortoriello said he became an advisor to help out the students.
“Its amazing to see what these kids do when they come together as a class,” Tortoriello said. “The way these kids come together, to be able to see that and help them out and send them in that direction… It’s amazing.”
Co-advisor Danielle Gigante, a guidance counselor at Herricks high echoed Tortoriello’s comments.
“To me this is my favorite part of the job to be able to spend this time with the students,” Gigante said. “I get to learn about them and see them on a totally different level. It is just amazing and they are a wonderful class.”
The festivities finished up around 6 p.m. at which time people had the option to take a bus to Tully Field where the pre-game activities would continue.
Leading up to the game, the Herricks band performed, and Shawn P. Matthew sang the national anthem. Performances were also given by the cheerleaders and the varsity football team’s players were introduced along with their parents.
