For the homecoming dance and rally, RCHS ASB  contributed one of the biggest parts in making these events come to life for their peers. They are in charge of contacting the homecoming court, planning the events and theme, and creating decorations. In ASB, there are separate committees that are responsible for various parts of homecoming events and other involvements around campus. 

“My committee does everything with the court, meaning that we help make the posters, kidnap them, and we make the ideas for their games,” junior and Commissioner of Entertainment Makayla Stochausen said. 

ASB advisor and teacher Ms. Heather Landau is also the activities director of RCHS and works closely with administration and staff to make sure the whole school is involved in the festivities. 

“We don’t have a construction committee,” Landau said. “We have kids that are well-versed in construction, so woodshop kids primarily do all the woodworking for us.” 

According to Landau, ASB has been working since July to prepare for homecoming and the rally.

“We’ve been here every single Saturday making all the artwork for the past two months,” Landau said. 

For the theme, it is the senior class’s responsibility to pitch ideas and then vote on the best option. Then, it’s the job of the ASB rally directors to create the art and produce the rally. 

This year, choir, dance, and cheer were all contacted to perform in the rally. 

“We make sure that everything that we’re doing is going to entertain our audience because we want to essentially give back to the student body,” Landau said. “We’re trying to make it a great experience for our court, and we’re just trying to make it a great experience for our whole school.”

Inspired by the 2017 musical “The Greatest Showman,” Woodshop powered up its tools to produce the props for Rancho’s Greatest Show. Students began production three weeks prior to homecoming, driven by ASB’s visions for the event. 

Instructed by Mr. Mike Lindensmith, the woodshop program combines logic and math to prepare students for future careers. With an extensive catalog of industry-standard equipment and rigorous safety training, students are allowed the freedom to build and design under the instruction of Lindensmith. Woodshop also fulfills the A-G requirement as a college preparatory elective. 

After three weeks, students were prepared to begin designing and building props. To begin the process, members of ASB explained their vision for homecoming.

“They think, hey, we want something along this, they’ll give us a rough sketch,” Lindensmith said regarding ASB’s involvement in kickstarting the project. 

Lindensmith then assists advanced Woodshop students in drawing a blueprint of the desired props. The students get to work, building through the heat and ensuring the props will fit within the size limit of the gym.

This year’s centerpiece, a large red and white drum outfitted with lights, was especially challenging to construct in the heat, according to senior Diego Torres. Woodshop built additional homecoming decorations including striped tables and stands painted in a similar fashion to the drum.

Lindensmith expressed pride at the students’ hard work and vouched for the excellence students strive for when presented with a commission.

“It’s their only rally. We want to make sure it’s exactly what they want,” Lindensmith said.

During the homecoming rally, the Rancho Cucamonga High School dance team performed a themed routine to create excitement for the following weekend’s “Rancho’s Greatest Show” themed homecoming dance. 

Dance director Ms. Larina Vessup is also the unofficial rally finale coordinator. She planned the routine and outfits the dance team showcased for the end of the rally.

“It’s a joint partnership with myself and choreographers, and the students,” Vessup said.

When creating the outfits and dances for the rally, the outfits are centered around the theme of homecoming, while the dance is altered from other routines in order to slightly fit the theme better. According to Vessup, new dances are usually not created specifically for the rally. 

“Generally, the routines are not centered around the rally,” Vessup said. “We’ll get a routine for competition or for another event that we have, and we will create something to fit the rally theme.”

Overall, having RCHS Dance perform at the rally created a lot of anticipation for homecoming itself.

One of the most essential and behind-the-scenes roles of this year’s homecoming rally was its camerawork. The ones behind the videos and editing at Rancho Cucamonga High School’s rally are the students of Advanced Digital Film. This class fulfills the computer credit and allows for students with an interest in film-making and production to pursue their passion in high school with the help of a veteran in the film industry: their teacher, Mr. Matthew Cataldo.

Their job began with the homecoming rally video that featured all six homecoming princesses. 

Senior Director, Peter Son, one of the videographers for the Homecoming Queen’s video, said his experience “was one of the most stressful shoots” he’d ever had when asked about how recording the Homecoming Princess videos was.

“I had to work for around two weeks straight,” Son said.

But video production is only one part of this class, as editing is a different challenge.

Junior Ashton Mize an editor for digital film shared his personal challenges he had during the production process.

“I have early morning practice for cross-country, so I was at the school from 6:30 to late late at night,” Mize said.

From scheduling time for shoots, finding time to edit, and carving out time to fulfill academic responsibilities, all the students in digital film who made this dream a reality showed their determination and dedication to the cause. 

Without a doubt, the work they do behind the scenes doesn’t go unnoticed.

“Even though it was really vigorous and we were really tired after, I would not be against doing something like this again,” Mize said.