This year, the longstanding Menlo tradition where each grade wore homecoming shirts on Friday has been replaced with Kona Ice trucks that will be available during two lunches. The decision was due to an earlier homecoming date, sustainability efforts and budget-friendly efforts.
In past years, each grade was assigned a theme starting with the same letter, with the seniors keeping their theme a secret from the rest of the school until the day of the homecoming game.
Student Life Coordinator Alexis Bustamante explained that due to an early homecoming date this year, student council was running on a very tight schedule; they were unable to send out forms in time to each grade to gather potential designs for the shirts.
“There wasn’t enough time to decide on themes, to get float design and T-shirt designs […] the production time wouldn’t have lined up,” Bustamante said.
Bustamante appreciates the student council’s willingness to pivot from the shirt designs, and thinks the food trucks will complement spirit week’s activities well. “Kona Ice is a fan favorite; I know that we have them pretty often at other events,” Bustamante said. The trucks will be split between grade levels during two lunches: Monday for freshmen and juniors and Friday for sophomores and seniors.
The homecoming shirts usually cost around $8000 to produce. Bustamante looked for potential activities with both the pricing and time constraints in mind to find the best fit for Menlo’s spirit week. She chose Kona Ice because of its ability to cater to a large group of students and since its relatively low cost allowed her to order two trucks.
The remaining budget will be saved and put towards other food trucks and activities throughout the year.
Student Council President Tania Troper and Vice President Rajan Kaushek also believe that Kona Ice trucks are a budget-friendly replacement for the homecoming shirts and more sustainable.
“People normally just wear the shirts, like for one day of their whole life, and they never wear them again,” Troper said.
Troper notes that the different shirt designs appeared to be more random than a symbol of unity, with grade levels scattered throughout the stands at the homecoming game. Instead, Friday’s themes will be blue, white, gold and silver, a reflection of Menlo’s colors. “When we’re all on the bleachers, we kind of look more like Menlo colors,” Troper said.
Kaushek said that being sustainable also played a role in the student council’s decision. “If we produce a ton of T-shirts that no one wears, it creates a ton of waste that isn’t needed, not just in the T-shirt, but in the process of producing it,” Kaushek said.
Both Troper and Kaushek believe that the Kona Ice trucks will be more popular than the homecoming shirts. We just think that a lot of people are gonna enjoy those more and it’s just a better use of money,” Troper said.
For seniors, not having homecoming shirts and their secret theme means losing a long-standing tradition.
“I’m sad that we don’t have the shirts anymore because I feel like it’s been a tradition that we’ve had for a [long] time,” senior Ava Wang said. However, Wang understands that the trucks were more sustainable and budget-friendly. “I think it’s a responsible decision,” she said.
Similarly, senior Jackie Laria was shocked by the change. “I’m just still getting used to the idea of not having a secret theme, but I think it’s really interesting that we’re changing things up a little bit,” Laria said.
