Homecoming Ups and Downs

Spirit Week was originally supposed to be from Tuesday, October 10, through Friday, October 13. Because of Columbus Day, there was no school on Monday, October 9 but the dress-up days for the week were assigned and the theme, Heroes, helped drive the daily themes: Tuesday, October 10, was “Dark Knight Rises” where everyone was supposed to dress in all black in honor of Batman. The next day students were supposed to dress as “Everyday Heroes,” like teachers, athletes, firefighters and other heroes. Thursday, October 12, was set aside for “Internet Heroes” where students were asked to dress as their favorite meme. Finally, Friday was identified as “Agents of Armijo” day where students and staff were to be filled with school spirit and dressed in purple and gold. The following night, October 14, a homecoming dance was scheduled. It was a well-organized week of fun, but everything was pushed back because of the local wildfires, when Armijo students and staff were required to stay away from campus from Wednesday through Friday.

All of that planning did not go to waste, though. Additional dress-up days were added and round two of Spirit Week began on Monday, October 30 with “Easy / Lazy” Day. People were encouraged to dress comfortably with the idea was that the game against our next competitors, Rodriguez High School would be an easy event. (It wasn’t.)

Since Tuesday was Halloween, costumes were the style of the day all over campus. November started with the theme “We’re the Best in Sport!” and people came wearing sports shirts and jerseys from their favorite sports teams. The remaining days brought back the original themes from the earlier plan, “Internet Hero” day on Thursday, and “Agents of Armijo” day on Friday.

The JV Football game was held on Thursday, November 2. The game started at 5 pm. It started out well, with all types of performances. People came out in their costumes and tutus for the skits at half-time. The winners fell into class order with seniors coming in first, followed by juniors, sophomores and freshmen respectively. At the beginning of the third quarter, the score was 24-27 with Rodriguez in the lead. Unfortunately the game was stopped abruptly, because there was a fight. All JV players from both teams have been suspended from play until further notice.

Friday, November 3 was a day to remember. It started early with Channel 40 coming to Armijo for a pep rally that started at 7:20. The news station aired a portion of the event on the “In Your Neighborhood” segment, but the entire half hour was full of goofy antics. While the audience was made up primarily of band members, leadership class and athletics, several other students came to join their friends and participate in a once-in-a lifetime event. Everyone was invited via email the day before.

By sixth period, students were ready for the Spirit March and that was just the beginning of the excitement. The game was themed not only as Homecoming, but it was also Senior night, honoring the graduating team members. Before the 5 pm varsity game, there was a tailgate “hangout” on the fire road. The Army brought a rock wall, and students were given a chance to sign-up to participate in rock climbing and other events. The Homecoming Court was announced at halftime as well as the cheerleader’s final performance for the football season. The freshman class was represented by Xu Vang and Sara Lodin as prince and princess. The sophomore prince and princess were Emmet Espino and Kennedy Corley. Elijah Jude and Laura Wadsworth were elected as prince and princess for the junior class and the seniors were represented by Prince Aaron Boggs and Princess Mia Castro. Prom King David Reyes and Prom Queen Sharleen Esico were selected to serve as the heads of the court.

After a very close game, the Indians lost with a final score of 32-34.

Saturday, November 4, was the day of the Homecoming dance, with the theme Spiderman Homecoming. It was held in the Armijo gym from 7 – 10 pm. It was just the right touch to end an awesome week of fun and spirit.