Grumpy gummy bears, crazy caramel and lucky lollipops are the spotlights at Agua Fria High School homecoming week, with the Twisted Candyland theme students enjoy a whole week of recreational activities. Every year homecoming week is realized at Agua Fria High School to foment school spirit, but have you ever wondered what it takes to organize it?
From shiny dresses to summer planning, STUCO does everything on their hands to guarantee a friendly and entertaining welcome for the AFHS student body, which requires planning months before it is realized!!!  As stated by Ashley Gomez (STUCO member) “We create a Hoco theme and spirit weekdays and make sure they are perfect before we send our ideas to get approved before school opens.”
While interviewing Ashley Gomez she also mentioned that one reason that she supported the theme was that “It is also a theme that everybody can go with by dressing up in any color and will look like a part of Twisted Candyland.” She wasn’t wrong, this year’s theme was a success regarding dress-up!!! Students found it versatile and easy to follow, the competition between classes really encouraged people to put some effort into their outfits and demonstrated the creativity that students at Agua Fria have.

STUCO puts a lot of dedication to the planning of the week, and Paola Carranza revealed how they came up with such unique spirit days: “A STUCO member mentioned the idea of the spirit days being candy names and matching the candy name with a spirit day. As you saw Rolo’ver = Rolling out of bed so pajamas, 3 Musketeers = triplets, Life Savers = Superhero, etc.” and it couldn’t be more opportune since it took place during October’s sugary spooky vibes.
The week came faster than expected by AFHS students. Many students had fun with it, which helped to create a sense of fraternity on campus, and for those who were wondering what can we do to improve these types of weeks Ashley Carranza answered “Definitely have the student body engaged more with the themes.” Having in mind that this year the students’ participation was exceptional let’s increase that Owl Spirit for the next spirit weeks and get more involved in our community.
And what better way to close the week than with the favorite of many people: The homecoming dance. From the moment that students entered the New Gym a scent of sweetness filled the air, the New Gym turned out to be a balmy Candyland just perfect for the Homecoming dance.

Stunning decorations were hanging in the room; the posters, balloons, lights, and other things drew the attention of many students and even became their favorite thing about the dance. As stated by Sarah Molette “The decorations were very cute and fit the homecoming theme,” and she was not the only one with these thoughts, Eden Davis expressed too that her “favorite thing was the lights”. The background and planning behind it, on the other hand, could be the sweetest nightmare for many, where STUCO gets into different groups which will take care of advertisement, music, decorations, drinks, set-up, and more; Paola Carranza describes that “Each task is broken up and each committee leader along with its members has different responsibilities. In the end, we come together, talk about it, and help each other where it’s needed.”

While interviewing, Mariama Camara and Eden Davis they stated that having in mind that people’s energy tends to decrease when dancing something that could be improved would be implementing  “A snack area with refreshments next time because people get hungry when dancing” and having “more water cause they ran”

Other than material things that shaped the dance, many students shout-out others as what made the dance an entertaining night; among them, Mariama Camara said that “The people I was with made it more enjoyable,” this energy of closeness between the students reflected all over the New Gym. Sarah Molette described that “You could tell a lot of people enjoyed themselves.” And after stressful weeks for the organizers, it all seems to be worth it. Students’ participation brings the dance to life; the event that repeats every year, but yet, gets to be unique each time because of these.