Abigail Kosch '24

14 October 2022

Passaic Valley geared up for Homecoming during the week of September 26th. To kick off the week, the Passaic Valley Student Senate organized Spirit Week and grade level class officers brought back the Penny Wars fundraising competition. On Friday, September 30, the Fall Pep Rally took place on Walton Field, the first on the new turf, where the Homecoming football game would be held later that evening.

This year’s Spirit Week was celebrated with Color Wars, Hawaiian Day, Pajama Day, Twin Day, and PV Pride Day. During Color Wars, each grade level was assigned a color to dress in representation of their class. “It’s always exciting seeing students dressed up, and I think it just kind of motivates everyone and brings them all together,” said Student Senate Representative Kat Dillman ‘24. “It makes everyone so excited to participate in something, and it’s cool to just walk through the halls and see everyone participate. It makes you proud to be a Hornet.”

This year's festivities included an added level of anticipation, leading into the first Homecoming Game on the newly renovated football field. “Last year, we were able to bring [Homecoming] back somewhat, and I think this year, with the amount of excitement around the turf field, the lights, and hopefully being out of COVID, we can have a sense of normalcy with large crowds," said Athletic Director Mr. Joseph Benvenuti. "I think everyone’s really excited to have another spirit week in a full-blown capacity.”

The Varsity Football Hornets played Belleville High School for their Homecoming game, having themselves quite a night with a 49-0 win. The stands were buzzing with energy as students, staff, and the community came out in support. “It draws everyone together. There’s people in the band, there’s people who play football, there’s those who are cheerleaders. In that way, you just see everyone come together and that’s what PV is really about,” said Dillman, who is also a member of the Marching Band. The junior football players from all three sending districts attended the game, a great way for future Hornets to experience Hornet Pride.

To drum up energy for the game, PV’s annual Pep Rally was held for the first time on the brand new turf at Walton Field. Student athletes paraded from the back of the Griswold Gymnasium steps to the field, led by the Marching Band drumline. All fall sports teams were announced as the PV cheerleaders created a tunnel for the athletes to walk through. The Hornet cheerleaders later performed their halftime show and cheered along as the PV Marching Band played gametime staples, such as Stompin’ Hornets (Passaic Valley’s fight song) and Soulman, a crowd favorite. “Seeing everyone come together as one, and seeing everyone at the same place, literally the whole school at the same time, I think it just shows how much livelihood you have at this school,” said Senior Cheerleader Aubrey Santos.

The winners for the Passaic Valley Homecoming Court were announced at the end of the Pep Rally. Teachers nominated students to be put on the ballot, and ballots were sent out via Google Forms to each grade level to vote. The winners for each grade level:

Mr. and Ms. Green & White (Sophomore Class): Kacey DiPasquale and Aows Abdelhay

Mr. and Ms. Hornet (Junior Class): Ali Stefanelli and Damian Kribs

Mr. and Ms. Passaic Valley (Senior Class): Aubrey Santos and Edwin Jaquez

“It felt good to know that you’re known," said Santos. "To know that you're liked and others can look up to you in that aspect, it’s a good feeling.”

Grade-level class officers also held Penny Wars, a successful fundraiser last school year, where students “battled” it out to raise money for their class. Students brought in pennies and dollar bills to put in their grade’s bottle to add to their total, and any silver coins to add to the opposing grade level’s bottle to bring down their total. The Class of 2026 faced the Class of 2025, while the Class of 2024 went up against the Class of 2023. The Class of 2024 won their matchup with a score of 2583 to -1076, and the Class of 2025 outscored the Class of 2026 -261 to -1924.