Niles West had their homecoming football game on Sept. 23rd, against Glenbrook South High School. Despite severely losing the game, the homecoming school spirit made it a fun experience for the student section of the stands.

After significant indecision regarding the theme for the homecoming game, going back and forth between USA, neon, white out, beach day, and frat boy, the seniors finally settled on neon through a GroupMe group chat. They believed the USA theme would open the door for unwelcome political signs.

“Let’s not be hostile,” senior Chidera Anyasor said after much back and forth about the theme. “The group chat environment is very chaotic. It feels like everyone is irritated at everyone solely because of just the notifications. It was very hard to stick to one decision because everybody kept restating things that we had already dismissed,” Anyasor said.

In the end, students dressed up in neon attire, sporting yellow construction vests with matching bucket hats and glow sticks. Glitter eye black even made its way around the stands and students painted each other’s faces with silver glitter. “All of a sudden, glitter was being passed around the whole bleachers and everyone had glitter eye-black, so it was a really cool and fun experience,” senior Maggie Burns said. 

Going into the second half of the game, the score was still tied and looked good for Niles West. Eventually, West’s defense broke down and a lot of points were scored by GBS which is one of the top schools in the conference. Although GBS won the game, Niles West is still determined to make it a good season. “While we didn’t come out on top, it showed that we have the ability to contend with the top teams in the conference. Now we just have to work on finishing,” said junior Aidan Sebastian. 

The moment many students were waiting for was the homecoming halftime show performed by poms on the football field. The dance team performed their routine to Pitbull’s most popular song, Hotel Room Service. For the fans in the stands who were not following the football game, the halftime show was a very entertaining break in the night. This halftime show was a big moment for the seniors on the poms team because it is their last year.

“It was exciting performing with my friends for my last homecoming football game. We learned and prepared for our poms halftime routine over summer break. We spent many hours cleaning the dance, facials, formations and technique. When getting ready for games, we listen to music to hype us up including Pitbull,” said senior Bridgit Bui. 

After the halftime show, the homecoming candidates were called to walk down the football field so they could be honored. “As someone who won Homecoming Royalty, I was expecting a little more recognition during the Homecoming game,” said homecoming king, Mustafa Al-Diraji. “They could’ve at least let me perform with poms,” said Al-Diraji.